Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal married Supriya Jolly in 1997. The couple has three children. Their son Shaan was born with a congenital heart defect and had surgery as an infant. They are outspoken advocates for children with congenital defects, particularly those without insurance.

Bobby Jindal was born on June 10, 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Amar and Raj Jindal. His parents were immigrants from Punjab, India. He has one younger brother.

He went to Baton Rouge Magnet High School where he proved to be a good student. He graduated at the top of his class in 1988. He was a talented tennis player and displayed entrepreneurial skills.

He attended Brown University where he had two majors, biology and public policy. He graduated in 1991 at the age of 20.

He was accepted into many prestigious institutions for his higher education and chose to study at New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He received an M.Litt. degree in political science with an emphasis in health policy from the University of Oxford in 1994.

Bobby Jindal joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company after completing his studies. He then interned at the office of U.S. Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana where he worked on healthcare policy.

McCrery introduced Jindal to Governor Murphy Foster in 1993. Foster appointed Jindal as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals in 1996. Jindal impressed Foster with his in-depth medical knowledge and sincerity.

During Jindal’s tenure, Louisiana's Medicaid program went from bankruptcy with a $400 million deficit into three years of surpluses totaling $220 million. His tenure also saw a rise in child immunization and introduction of new and expanded services for the elderly and the disabled.

President George W. Bush nominated him to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation in 2001. In this position, he served as the principal policy adviser to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He resigned in 2003 to run for the governor of Louisiana.

He lost the 2003 election for Louisiana governor though he gained much visibility and prominence during the campaigning. He became a well-known figure on the state's political scene and a rising star within the Republican party.

Bobby Jindal received a lot of praise for the way he handled the situation in August 2008 prior to the Louisiana landfall of Hurricane Gustav. He issued mandatory evacuation orders for the state's coastal areas and oversaw one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history. His timely actions ensured that the loss of life due to the natural disaster was minimized, with only 16 deaths in the U.S.