Obama Picks Two Tech Execs

Shannon Geis reports: On the day he launched a website for his transition period (change.gov), President-elect Barack Obama has selected two tech execs to help him fill positions in his administration: Sonal Shah from Google.org and Julius Genachowski , a former InterActiveCorp executive who also served as chief counsel to former Democratic FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.

Shah is an economist who works for the philanthropy division of Google.org. She also formerly served as a vice president at Goldman Sachs, in the environmental protection department,and founded Indiacorps, a non-profit organization giving Americans of Indian decent a chance to work on development projects in India.

Genachowski, a co-founder and managing director of Rock Creek Ventures and founding partner of LaunchBox Digital, has been advising Obama's campaign on tech policy issues. He chaired a group of advisors on Obama's Tech & Innovation Plan during the campaign. He's also a pal of Obama's from Harvard Law School.

In addition to helping Obama choose members of his new administration, Genachowski and Shah will assist the President-elect with the technical side of the transition process.

Obama's emphasis on technology shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering the influence his use of technology was in his presidential campaign and fundraising. On the campaign trail, he also spoke of plans to name the country's first "chief technology officer."

But how he approaches technology and the business behind it when in office will show whether his campaign-trail talk of the significance of tech to the economy was just that, or more.

For the tech giants in Silicon Valley, Obama and the newly elected Democratic congress could mean a change for the worse in the way they do business. Obama has been a promoter of antitrust action, which could hurt companies like Yahoo and Google, with their extensions into many different areas of business. He also has not shown any signs of bucking the Democratic Party in dealing with free trade. He has suggested tax breaks for companies that do not outsource their workforce, as many tech companies do.

Obama campaigned with Net Neutrality and more government regulation of the Internet on the top of his Technology platform. As with many of Obama's policies, the exact details are missing and his statements are vague regarding what exactly he plans to do.

We will have to wait to see how Obama's ideas and policy play out in the next few months. The vagueness in his current policy leaves a lot of room for interpretation in how he approaches the issues he feels are most important.