WEC 566th Meeting Featuring Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal began his career in public service when, in 1996, he was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. In 1999, at age 28, he was appointed as the youngest president in the history of the University of Louisiana System. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the second Indian American in Congress, and was re-elected in 2006. Jindal ran for governor in 2007 and won, making him, at 36 years old, the second youngest governor of Louisiana after Huey P. Long. Jindal was re-elected in 2011 in a landslide, winning more than 65% of the vote. He was the first Indian American governor in the country. Jindal ran for President of the U.S. in 2016.

Jindal used his two terms as Governor of Louisiana to rebuild and diversify the state’s economy and financial footing in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. His agenda included top-to-bottom reformation and privatization of the state-run charity hospital and the state’s healthcare payer systems. Fiscally, Jindal reduced the state budget by 26%, reduced the state employee headcount by 30,000, and implemented the largest income tax reduction in state history. With a bipartisan consensus, Jindal implemented statewide school choice programs and moved the state from the bottom five in ethics laws to the top five, according to independent analysts.

Jindal’s dramatic rework of Louisiana’s policy structure paid measurable dividends in the form of eight credit upgrades, $60 billion in private capital investment and a ranking in the top ten in the nation for job creation and the highest ever per-capita income ranking in state history.

The son of Indian immigrants, Jindal was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He graduated with honors in Biology and Public Policy from Brown University and also holds an M. Litt degree in Politics with an emphasis in Health Policy from the University of Oxford. Jindal currently resides in Louisiana with his wife, Supriya, and their three children.

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