Gopal Khanna was sworn in as the 5th director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on May 9, 2017. He resigned on January 11, 2021. Previously, he was Minnesota's first Chief information officer (CIO) by Governor Tim Pawlenty on August 15, 2005, and reappointed January 2, 2007. Prior to his departure, Khanna served as the Lead Co-Chair of the 19 member Minnesota Commission on Service Innovation (CSI), created through a bi-partisan legislation authored by State Senator (D) Terri Bonoff and State Representative (R) Keith Downey, with the charter to submit to the Minnesota legislature recommendations on "a strategic plan to reengineer the delivery of state and local government services, including the realignment of service delivery by region and proximity, the use of new technologies, shared facilities, centralized information technologies, and other means of improving efficiency.". Additionally, Khanna served as a member of Health Information Technology Policy & Standards Committees' Enrollment Workgroup, chaired by President Obama's Chief Technology Officer at The White House, which was tasked to develop a set of standards to facilitate enrollment in federal and state health and human services programs.