Rajiv Shah
Encyclopedia
Rajiv “Raj” Shah is the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). He was confirmed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, replacing acting chief Alonzo Fulgham, making him the highest-ranking Indian American
in any presidential administration. In this capacity, he has led USAID in efforts to provide relief to the earthquake victims in Haiti
and to flood victims in Pakistan.
Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah worked in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
including Director of Agricultural Development, Director of Financial Services, leader of the Strategic Opportunities initiative and manager of the Foundation’s $1.5 billion commitment to the Vaccine Fund. He also came up with the idea for the International Finance Facility for Immunization to transform the global system of vaccine financing, and worked to secure donor commitments of more than $5 billion for this facility. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Shah was a health care policy advisor on the Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000
and a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell
's transition committee on health.
President Obama announced Shah’s selection as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics
and Chief Scientist on April 17, 2009. Shah’s nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate
by unanimous consent on May 12, 2009.
In September 2011, Administrator Shah, along with Dr. Jill Biden
, spearheaded the FWD
campaign to spread awareness and raise funds for over 13 million people affected by famine, war, and drought in the Horn of Africa
.
who settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan
in the late 1960s, Shah grew up in the metro Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield and attended Wylie Groves High School.
Shah earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
and M.Sc. in Health Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan
and also attended the London School of Economics
. He lives with his wife and their two young children, Sajan and Amna. Shah's wife, Shivam Mallick Shah, works at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation as the Director of Special Initiatives. He has one sister, Ami Shah, who is also a medical doctor.
From July 22 to 31, 2010, heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding in various regions of Pakistan affected up to 1 million people and resulted in as many as 1,100 deaths in Baluchistan, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and international media reports. In response, USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) provided the NDMA with emergency relief commodities, including two mobile water treatment units and four Zodiac boats - worth more than $170,000, not including transport - from the OFDA warehouse in Dubai. OFDA deployed an assessment team to Pakistan, and staff in Washington, D.C. and Islamabad, Pakistan continued to monitor the situation in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and GoP officials.
Under Shah, the agency has embarked on a reform agenda called USAID Forward. The reform agenda aims to change the way USAID does business, with new partnerships and an emphasis on innovation and focus on results. USAID Forward includes the following reforms in key areas: implementation and procurement reform, talent management, rebuilding policy capacity, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, rebuilding budget management, science and technology, and innovation.
Prior to heading USAID, Shah was the Under Secretary of Research, Education and Economics (REE) and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There he managed the Agricultural Research Service
(including the National Agricultural Library
), the Economic Research Service
, the National Agricultural Statistical Service and the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. Shah was responsible for managing more than 10,000 staff worldwide, including 2200 federal scientists and a budget of more than $2.6 billion. He also led the USDA's participation in the Obama administration’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative.
In his tenure at USDA, Shah launched the National Institute of Food and Agriculture
, a new scientific institute created to elevate and enhance the capacity of agricultural research to address sustainable food production around the world, climate change, bioenergy and human nutrition. Prior to his appointment at USDA, Shah worked in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
As the Director of the Agricultural Development program, Shah oversaw the foundation’s multi-billion dollar portfolio of grant and program-related investments to help transform rural economies throughout the developing world and assist small farmers and their families overcome hunger and poverty. He led efforts to create the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, helped recruit its leadership including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
, and serves on its Board of Directors. He oversaw grant portfolios in science and technology; farmer productivity; market access; and policy, statistics and advocacy; and managed a team of more than 60 professionals. He also developed innovative partnerships with private industry, the United Nations, the World Bank
, and country governments around the world, where he was an active voice on issues related to food and hunger.
As the Foundation’s first Director for the Financial Services to the Poor portfolio, Shah worked with a broad range of financial institutions and other donors to determine how Foundation resources could best amplify the field’s collective impact. Previously, he led the Strategic Opportunities initiative, which worked with Foundation co-chairs to identify, assess and recommend new areas of giving. This process led to the creation of the Foundation’s Global Development Program.
Shah’s early work with the Foundation focused on global health. As Deputy Director for Policy and Finance, Shah managed the Foundation’s $1.5 billion commitment to the Vaccine Fund – an effort referred to by Bill and Melinda Gates as their best investment. He also came up with the idea for the International Finance Facility for Immunization to transform the global system of vaccine financing and worked to secure donor commitments of more than $5 billion for this facility. The World Health Organization
estimates this initiative will save more than five million children's lives through the next decade, and a New York Times article described the effort as “a clever way to reduce the burden of costly diseases now and save money in the future.”
Shah previously worked as a health care policy advisor on the Gore 2000 presidential campaign, was an active supporter of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
, and served as a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s health transition committee. He also co-founded Health Systems Analytics (a health care consulting firm), served as an advisor to the City of Philadelphia’s Public Health Commissioner, and worked at the World Health Organization. Early in his career, Shah worked on a health and development project in rural South India.
, and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Seattle Public Library.
In addition, Shah co-founded multiple nonprofit organizations including Project Impact for South Asian Americans. Project Impact was a pioneering organization whose mission was to inspire and sustain leadership and activism among young Americans. The nonprofit organization held chapters in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Washington D.C. and elsewhere and its 200+ volunteer members pursued projects such as high-school mentoring, leadership training, community building, town halls, and legal aid projects. In addition, the organization hosted the annual Creating a Voice Awards to honor Americans of South Asian heritage who had made outstanding contributions to the fabric of American life.
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
(USAID). He was confirmed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, replacing acting chief Alonzo Fulgham, making him the highest-ranking Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
in any presidential administration. In this capacity, he has led USAID in efforts to provide relief to the earthquake victims in Haiti
Humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
The humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake included national governments, charitable and for-profit organizations from around the world which began coordinating humanitarian aid designed to help the Haitian people...
and to flood victims in Pakistan.
Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah worked in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
including Director of Agricultural Development, Director of Financial Services, leader of the Strategic Opportunities initiative and manager of the Foundation’s $1.5 billion commitment to the Vaccine Fund. He also came up with the idea for the International Finance Facility for Immunization to transform the global system of vaccine financing, and worked to secure donor commitments of more than $5 billion for this facility. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Shah was a health care policy advisor on the Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000
Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000
Al Gore, the 45th Vice President of the United States under Bill Clinton, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Carthage, Tennessee on June 16, 1999. Gore became the nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2000 presidential election on August 17, 2000...
and a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
's transition committee on health.
President Obama announced Shah’s selection as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics
The Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics is a high-ranking official within the United States Department of Agriculture that provides leadership and oversight for the Agricultural Research Service, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Economic Research...
and Chief Scientist on April 17, 2009. Shah’s nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
by unanimous consent on May 12, 2009.
In September 2011, Administrator Shah, along with Dr. Jill Biden
Jill Biden
Jill Tracy Biden is an American educator and, as the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is the Second Lady of the United States....
, spearheaded the FWD
FWD
FWD may refer to:* Front-wheel drive, a common method of vehicle propulsion.* FWD Campaign from USAID* Free World Dialup , a non-commercial Voice over IP network....
campaign to spread awareness and raise funds for over 13 million people affected by famine, war, and drought in the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
.
Early life and family
Born to immigrant parents from IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
who settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
in the late 1960s, Shah grew up in the metro Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield and attended Wylie Groves High School.
Shah earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
The Perelman School of Medicine , formerly the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was founded in 1765, making it the oldest American medical school. As part of the University of Pennsylvania, it is located in the University City section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is widely...
and M.Sc. in Health Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and also attended the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. He lives with his wife and their two young children, Sajan and Amna. Shah's wife, Shivam Mallick Shah, works at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation as the Director of Special Initiatives. He has one sister, Ami Shah, who is also a medical doctor.
Career
Shah became Administrator of USAID days before the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. In response, USAID and other agencies, began working to help Haiti recover and rebuild. Together with the international community and the Government of Haiti, Shah led USAID to help provide safer housing for almost 200,000 displaced Haitians; supported vaccinations for more than 1 million people; cleared more than 1.3 million cubic meters of the approximately 10 million cubic meters of rubble generated; helped more than 10,000 farmers double the yields of staples like corn, beans, and sorghum; and provided short-term employment to more than 350,000 Haitians, injecting more than $19 million into the local economy. USAID provided nearly $42 million to help combat cholera, helping to decrease the number of cases requiring hospitalization and reduce the case fatality rate.From July 22 to 31, 2010, heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding in various regions of Pakistan affected up to 1 million people and resulted in as many as 1,100 deaths in Baluchistan, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and international media reports. In response, USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) provided the NDMA with emergency relief commodities, including two mobile water treatment units and four Zodiac boats - worth more than $170,000, not including transport - from the OFDA warehouse in Dubai. OFDA deployed an assessment team to Pakistan, and staff in Washington, D.C. and Islamabad, Pakistan continued to monitor the situation in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and GoP officials.
Under Shah, the agency has embarked on a reform agenda called USAID Forward. The reform agenda aims to change the way USAID does business, with new partnerships and an emphasis on innovation and focus on results. USAID Forward includes the following reforms in key areas: implementation and procurement reform, talent management, rebuilding policy capacity, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, rebuilding budget management, science and technology, and innovation.
Prior to heading USAID, Shah was the Under Secretary of Research, Education and Economics (REE) and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There he managed the Agricultural Research Service
Agricultural Research Service
The Agricultural Research Service is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture . ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area...
(including the National Agricultural Library
United States National Agricultural Library
The United States National Agricultural Library is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a National Library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture...
), the Economic Research Service
Economic Research Service
The Economic Research Service is the main source of economic information and research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Located in Washington D.C., the mission of ERS is to inform and enhance public and private decision-making on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food,...
, the National Agricultural Statistical Service and the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. Shah was responsible for managing more than 10,000 staff worldwide, including 2200 federal scientists and a budget of more than $2.6 billion. He also led the USDA's participation in the Obama administration’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative.
In his tenure at USDA, Shah launched the National Institute of Food and Agriculture
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture is a U.S. Federal government body whose creation was mandated in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. It is intended to consolidate all federally-funded agricultural research, and will be subordinate to the Department of Agriculture...
, a new scientific institute created to elevate and enhance the capacity of agricultural research to address sustainable food production around the world, climate change, bioenergy and human nutrition. Prior to his appointment at USDA, Shah worked in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
As the Director of the Agricultural Development program, Shah oversaw the foundation’s multi-billion dollar portfolio of grant and program-related investments to help transform rural economies throughout the developing world and assist small farmers and their families overcome hunger and poverty. He led efforts to create the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, helped recruit its leadership including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, and serves on its Board of Directors. He oversaw grant portfolios in science and technology; farmer productivity; market access; and policy, statistics and advocacy; and managed a team of more than 60 professionals. He also developed innovative partnerships with private industry, the United Nations, the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, and country governments around the world, where he was an active voice on issues related to food and hunger.
As the Foundation’s first Director for the Financial Services to the Poor portfolio, Shah worked with a broad range of financial institutions and other donors to determine how Foundation resources could best amplify the field’s collective impact. Previously, he led the Strategic Opportunities initiative, which worked with Foundation co-chairs to identify, assess and recommend new areas of giving. This process led to the creation of the Foundation’s Global Development Program.
Shah’s early work with the Foundation focused on global health. As Deputy Director for Policy and Finance, Shah managed the Foundation’s $1.5 billion commitment to the Vaccine Fund – an effort referred to by Bill and Melinda Gates as their best investment. He also came up with the idea for the International Finance Facility for Immunization to transform the global system of vaccine financing and worked to secure donor commitments of more than $5 billion for this facility. The World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
estimates this initiative will save more than five million children's lives through the next decade, and a New York Times article described the effort as “a clever way to reduce the burden of costly diseases now and save money in the future.”
Shah previously worked as a health care policy advisor on the Gore 2000 presidential campaign, was an active supporter of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
, and served as a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s health transition committee. He also co-founded Health Systems Analytics (a health care consulting firm), served as an advisor to the City of Philadelphia’s Public Health Commissioner, and worked at the World Health Organization. Early in his career, Shah worked on a health and development project in rural South India.
Community service
Shah was actively engaged in the Seattle community as a trustee of the 54,000-student Seattle Community College DistrictSeattle Community College District
The Seattle Community College District is a group of community colleges located in Seattle, Washington. It consists of three colleges— North Seattle Community College, Seattle Central Community College , South Seattle Community College —and the Seattle Vocational Institute...
, and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Seattle Public Library.
In addition, Shah co-founded multiple nonprofit organizations including Project Impact for South Asian Americans. Project Impact was a pioneering organization whose mission was to inspire and sustain leadership and activism among young Americans. The nonprofit organization held chapters in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Washington D.C. and elsewhere and its 200+ volunteer members pursued projects such as high-school mentoring, leadership training, community building, town halls, and legal aid projects. In addition, the organization hosted the annual Creating a Voice Awards to honor Americans of South Asian heritage who had made outstanding contributions to the fabric of American life.
External links
- USAID Bio
- Informationweek.com
- USAID.gov press release
- REE.USDA.gov
- ADSBM.MSU.edu
- Dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com
- Seattlepi.com
- Gatesfoundation.org
- Facebook.com
- Millions saved: proven successes in global health By Ruth Levine, What Works Working Group
- Diaspore: profile at the gates of fortune
- Doctoral Student Rajiv Shah: A Helping Hand With a Global Reach