Todd Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Todd Park
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| 2nd Chief Technology Officer of the United States | |
| In office March 1, 2012 – August 28, 2014 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Aneesh Chopra |
| Succeeded by | Megan Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1973 (age 51–52) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Amy |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) |
Todd Park is a Korean American entrepreneur and government leader. He served as the top technology advisor for U.S. President Barack Obama. This important job is called the Chief Technology Officer of the United States. He also helped start a company called Devoted Health.
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Early Life and Education
Todd Park was born in 1973 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents came from South Korea. He finished high school at Columbus Academy in 1990. That same year, he was chosen as a Presidential Scholar. This award recognizes amazing high school students.
He went to Harvard University to study economics. There, he met his future wife, Amy. They have two children together. Todd graduated from Harvard with high honors, which means he did very well in his studies. He was also part of Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society for top students.
Building New Companies
Todd Park has helped create several successful companies.
- In 1997, when he was 24, he co-founded athenahealth with Jonathan S. Bush. This company helps doctors and hospitals manage their patient records and billing.
- In 2008, he also co-founded Castlight Health. This company helps people understand their healthcare costs. The Wall Street Journal newspaper called it a top new company in 2011.
Todd also volunteered as an advisor for Ashoka. This group helps people start projects that solve social problems. He helped create Healthpoint Services, a project that brought clean water, medicine, and health services to villages in India. In 2011, Healthpoint Services won an award for being a very creative and promising health project in India.
In 2017, Todd Park started a new company called Devoted Health. He is a co-founder and executive chairman there.
Working at Health and Human Services
In 2009, Todd Park became the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This is a big government department that deals with health in the U.S.
At HHS, he worked on using "big data" in healthcare. Big data means using very large sets of information to find patterns and make decisions. He wanted to create an open health data platform. This would be like a public library for health information. It would let other companies use this data to create new health apps and services. He also wanted to find ways to reduce waste in healthcare.
Todd believed in using "open innovation" and the "Lean Startup" method in government.
- Open innovation means getting ideas and help from people outside the government. It's like asking a large group of people (crowdsourcing) for solutions.
- The Lean Startup method is about quickly testing ideas and learning from feedback.
He thought that sharing health data through HealthData.gov would help public health. It would also create new business chances in mobile health (mhealth) and online health (eHealth). In 2010, Fast Company magazine named him one of the 100 Most Innovative People in Business.
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Todd Park managed his team at HHS like a technology company in Silicon Valley. This approach was important for creating HealthCare.gov. This website was designed to help people find and compare health insurance plans.
At HHS, Park also started the Community Health Data Initiative. This was an event where software developers could create new healthcare apps using government data. This event grew into the Health Datapalooza. It became a large gathering for people interested in health data, including investors, doctors, and politicians. It showed how the government could work with private companies.
United States Chief Technology Officer
In March 2012, President Obama chose Todd Park to be the Chief Technology Officer of the United States. In this role, Todd worked with many government agencies. He helped them use open data, just like he did with health data.
He also started the Presidential Innovation Fellows program. This program brings talented people from outside the government to work on important projects. These "fellows" work with government experts to solve big challenges quickly, often in about six months.
Working on HealthCare.gov
The first version of HealthCare.gov was built in 90 days by Todd Park and his team at HHS. It launched in July 2010. This early version was seen as a success in making healthcare reform happen. It was also the first website a sitting president ever showed to the public.
Later versions of HealthCare.gov, especially the one launched in October 2013, had many technical problems. These later versions were built by other companies and managed by different government officials. When the problems became clear, President Obama asked Todd Park to join a special team to fix the website. Todd Park, along with Jeffrey Zients, led this "tech surge." They worked hard through the winter to repair HealthCare.gov. Their efforts helped millions of Americans find and buy health insurance plans.
