Jun H. Choi (born May 17, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and politician and the former Mayor of Edison, New Jersey, a community of over 100,000 people and the fifth largest municipality in the state. He was sworn in on January 1, 2006 as the youngest mayor in Edison history and the first Asian American mayor of a major city in New Jersey. Prior to serving as mayor, Choi worked in both business and government. He served as a senior official on education policy at the New Jersey Department of Education where he started the NJ SMART program. He also served in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and worked as a management consultant focusing on strategy and technology issues for Fortune 500 US corporations. Choi is currently CEO of Menlo Realty Ventures, an industrial real estate investment firm, and Co-Chair of the NJ Committee for the Regional Plan Association. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a Leadership New Jersey Fellow (Class of 2003). Early life The son of Korean immigrants, Choi was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey at an early age before moving to Edison, New Jersey. He graduated from J.P. Stevens High School in Edison. Choi earned his pilot's license as a teenager and wanted to become a pilot/astronaut before entering public service. Education policy After entering public service, Choi focused on education policy. He co-wrote the first overview of New Jersey's Charter Schools in 2001 with Gordon MacInnes, then the CEO of Citizens for Better Schools. He later worked at the New Jersey Department of Education in Commissioner Bill Librera's administration on a statewide program named NJ Standards Measurement and Resource for Teaching (NJ SMART). Mayor of Edison Elected on a good government, reform-minded platform, Choi's administration brought fiscal stability to a $140 million government. He stabilized property tax increases from annual double digit increases to the rate of inflation. He reduced the size of government by 15% while improving services without permanently laying off any municipal employees. He completed several large scale economic development projects, including planning, negotiating and breaking ground on the largest redevelopment project in Edison's history—the 1.2 million sq/ft Edison Towne Square (former Ford Plant). He professionalized the Edison Police Department which earned accreditation in 2009 and completed the newly built Edison Public Safety Center. He restructured all the major departments so