Raja Krishnamoorthi, 41, has a unique understanding of the challenges facing the U.S. economy and their implications for families and future workers. With successful experience in both the public and private sectors, he will go to Congress with clear ideas to help more Americans find good jobs and economic security in a changing world.

Raja currently serves as President of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc., small businesses that develop and sell products in the national security and renewable energy industries. He is a co-founder of InSPIRE, a non-profit organization that provides training to Illinois students and veterans in solar technology, and was formerly Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council, whose mission is to promote innovative technologies that support economic growth and job creation in Illinois.

Raja previously served as Illinois’s Deputy Treasurer, where he helped revamp the state’s unclaimed property system by using technology to increase the amount of property returned to taxpayers while cutting the program’s costs. He also helped run the state’s technology venture capital fund, assisting in the creation of hundreds of good-paying jobs in Illinois. In 2006, Raja was appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General in her Public Integrity Unit. He also served as a member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, where he was Chairman of the Audit Committee.

The son of Indian immigrants to the U.S., Raja was raised in Peoria, Illinois, where he attended public schools and graduated as a valedictorian of his high school class. Raja earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in mechanical engineering from Princeton University and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. Following law school, Raja clerked for a federal judge in Chicago, served as issues director for Barack Obama’s successful United States Senate campaign in 2004, and became a partner at an Illinois law firm.

Raja is married to Priya, a doctor at a local hospital. They live in Schaumburg with their sons Vijay, 9, and Vikram, 5, who attend public schools in District 54.