Doug Burgum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Doug Burgum
Official portrait, 2025
55th United States Secretary of the Interior
Incumbent
Assumed office February 1, 2025
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Deb Haaland
33rd Governor of North Dakota
In office December 15, 2016 – December 15, 2024
Lieutenant	Brent Sanford Tammy Miller
Preceded by	Jack Dalrymple
Succeeded by	Kelly Armstrong
Personal details
Born	Douglas James Burgum (1956-08-01) August 1, 1956 (age 68) Arthur, North Dakota, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Karen Stoker ​ ​ (m. 1991; div. 2003)​ Kathryn Helgaas ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	3
Education	North Dakota State University (BA) Stanford University (MBA)
Signature

Douglas James Burgum ( BURR-ghəm; born August 1, 1956) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the 55th United States secretary of the interior since February 1, 2025, under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 33rd governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024.

Burgum was born and raised in Arthur, North Dakota. After graduating from North Dakota State University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in university studies and earning an MBA from Stanford University two years later, he mortgaged inherited farmland in 1983 to invest in Great Plains Software in Fargo. Becoming its president in 1984, he took the company public in 1997. Burgum sold the company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. While working at Microsoft, he managed Microsoft Business Solutions. He has served as board chairman for Australian software company Atlassian and SuccessFactors. Burgum is the founder of Kilbourne Group, a Fargo-based real-estate development firm, and also is the co-founder of Arthur Ventures, a software venture capital group.

Burgum won the 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial election in a landslide. He was reelected by a wide margin in 2020. In June 2023, Burgum launched a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He ended his candidacy in early December 2023, and became an advisor on the Trump campaign's energy policy. On November 14, 2024, President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Burgum as the United States Secretary of the Interior and named him chair of the National Energy Council.

Early life

Burgum was born on August 1, 1956, in Arthur, North Dakota, the son of Katherine (née Kilbourne) and Joseph Boyd Burgum. He has a brother, Bradley, and a sister, Barbara. He was born where his grandfather established a grain elevator in 1906. The company evolved into an agribusiness that the family still owns.

During his freshman year in high school, Burgum's father died. He later said that the experience shaped him as a person. He graduated from North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 1978. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and served as student body president. As a college student, he started a chimney-sweeping business.

Burgum later studied at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he befriended Steve Ballmer, who became CEO of Microsoft. He completed his MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business in 1980.

Business career

Great Plains Software

After earning his MBA, Burgum moved to Chicago to become a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

In March 1983, Burgum mortgaged $250,000 of farmland to provide the seed capital for accounting software company Great Plains Software in Fargo. He acquired a 2.5% stake in the company, and became its vice president of marketing. In 1984, Burgum led a group of investors, including relatives, who purchased a controlling interest in Great Plains Software from Joseph C. Larson, the company's founder, who retained a minority interest.

During the 1980s, Fortune magazine often ranked Great Plains Software among the nation's top 100 companies to work for. Burgum grew the company to about 250 employees by 1989 and led it to about $300 million in annual sales, after using the internet to help it expand beyond North Dakota. He said he built the company in Fargo because North Dakota State University was there; NDSU acted as a feeder school to supply engineering students to GPS. The company went public in 1997. In 1999 the company acquired Match Data Systems, a development team in the Philippines. In 2001, Burgum sold Great Plains Software to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in stock. Announced in December 2000, the acquisition was completed in 2001. According to Burgum, he held a 10% stake in Great Plains at the time.

Microsoft

After the sale, Burgum was named Senior Vice President of Microsoft Business Solutions Group, the unit created from GPS. At Microsoft, he was responsible for making enterprise apps a priority. In 2005, he expressed interest in stepping down as senior vice president to become chairman of Microsoft Business Solutions. In September 2006, he announced that he planned to leave Microsoft entirely by 2007. He was replaced by future CEO Satya Nadella.

Investment firms

In 2008 Burgum co-founded Arthur Ventures, a venture capital company that invests in businesses involved in technology, life sciences, and clean technologies. The group began operation with a $20 million fund and primarily invested in companies in North Dakota and Minnesota. By 2013 it had expanded operations into Nebraska, Missouri, Arizona, and Iowa.

Burgum is also the founder of the Kilbourne Group, a real-estate development firm focused on downtown Fargo. In 2013 he created plans to build the tallest building in Fargo—a 23-story mixed-use building—to be named either Block 9 or Dakota Place. It was completed in 2020 as the RDO Building. The company advocated for a convention center to be built in downtown Fargo. It acquired and renovated many Fargo properties, including the former St. Mark's Lutheran Church and the former Woodrow Wilson alternative high school. Several of the companies he has invested in are in Fargo.

In 2009, he was "urged to apply" for the position of president of North Dakota State University, but in 2010 he was passed over for Dean Bresciani.

Political career

Early involvement

Burgum endorsed Republican Steve Sydness for one of North Dakota's U.S. Senate seats in 1988. He supported the gubernatorial campaigns of Republicans John Hoeven and Jack Dalrymple in 2008 and 2012.

Governor of North Dakota (2016–2024)

In 2016, Burgum announced his candidacy for governor of North Dakota as a Republican. With no formal political experience, he lost the state Republican party's endorsement to longtime attorney general Wayne Stenehjem, but defeated Stenehjem handily in the primary election two months later. Burgum faced Democrat Marvin Nelson and Libertarian Marty Riske in the November general election and won with over 75% of the vote. He was sworn in on December 15, 2016, alongside running mate Brent Sanford.

Burgum meets with the commanding general of the Mississippi Valley Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in June 2018

During both terms, North Dakota maintained a robust fossil fuel industry. Burgum set a goal for North Dakota to become carbon-neutral by 2030, which he planned to accomplish through carbon capture and storage technology to capture and sequester carbon dioxide in the state's geological formations and by using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery and via agricultural practices that sequester carbon in soil. The 2021 announcement of the goal sparked $25 billion in private sector investment, according to remarks he made at the annual meeting of the North Dakota petroleum council. Burgum was reelected in 2020 with over 65% of the vote.

Burgum with President Donald Trump and Jared Polis in May 2020

On December 20, 2022, Sanford resigned, citing a desire to return to the private sector. Burgum appointed businesswoman Tammy Miller as lieutenant governor. She took office on January 2, 2023.

Since taking office, Burgum has presented the Rough Rider Award, North Dakota's highest civilian award, numerous times. Those chosen have included Virgil Hill, Steve D. Scheel, and Clint Hill.

On March 20, 2023, Burgum vetoed a bill to raise the state interstate speed limit to 80 mph. During the 2023 legislative session, he signed a bill that exempts members of the North Dakota National Guard and reserve from paying income tax, and another that provided over $500 million in tax relief.

In January 2023, Burgum and other North Dakota officials threatened to sue Minnesota over a law that would require the state's electricity to come from sources that do not emit carbon dioxide. Minnesota governor Tim Walz signed the bill on February 7, 2023. In an attempt to mitigate the schoolteacher shortage, Burgum announced the creation of a Teacher Retention and Recruitment task force that would consist of multiple members, Burgum, and the North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction. In October 2023, Burgum condemned Hamas's attack on Israel and noted that 84 North Dakotans who were on a church tour were stranded in Bethlehem as the fighting began.

On January 22, 2024, Burgum announced that he would not run for a third term as governor. On February 21, he endorsed Lieutenant Governor Tammy Miller to succeed him. Miller lost the primary to U.S. Representative Kelly Armstrong, who won the general election.

2024 presidential campaign

Burgum's logo for his 2024 Presidential campaign

In March 2023, Burgum expressed interest in running for president in the 2024 United States presidential election. On June 5, 2023, he posted a video to his Twitter account teasing a "big announcement" for June 7. He formally announced his campaign in The Wall Street Journal the morning of June 7, with the launch of a campaign website and a rally in Fargo scheduled to take place later that day. After his announcement, Burgum began campaigning with multiple stops in Iowa.

Burgum was reported to have spent more money on advertisements than any other presidential candidate. He was endorsed by North Dakota's entire Congressional delegation, U.S. Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer and U.S. Representative Kelly Armstrong. He was also endorsed by actor Josh Duhamel.

On December 4, Burgum announced that he was suspending his campaign, citing frustration with the RNC's high threshold of donations and polling to qualify for debates.

Secretary of the Interior (2025–present)

Burgum being sworn in on February 1, 2025.

Nomination and confirmation

On November 15, 2024, President-elect Trump announced he intended to nominate Burgum for Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior oversees public lands, natural resources, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, among other things. Reportedly, Trump's primary directive to Burgum as interior secretary has been to "drill" at a massive scale.

Trump also named Burgum as his new "energy czar" to handle deregulation and private investments. This position will also give Burgum a seat on the National Security Council.

Burgum's selection was highly praised by numerous Republican senators, including John Barrasso, Dan Sullivan, and Tim Sheehy. Many tribal leaders also expressed support for his nomination. It received backlash from environmental groups over Burgum's ties to and plans for the fossil fuel industry, such as his support for the pro-coal Lignite Energy Council.

Burgum's confirmation hearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee was scheduled for January 14, 2025, six days before Trump would be inaugurated. Democratic member of the committee Martin Heinrich protested the date, as chairman Mike Lee released the hearing notice before Burgum had completed multiple forms. Lee, however, claims the committee has received the same amount of forms as it had during confirmations of Obama's nominees in 2009.

On January 13, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee stated that Burgum's confirmation hearing would be delayed due to issues with paperwork, specifying that Burgum had handed his paperwork in on time, and that the delay is the cause of the Office of Government Ethics which has simply not performed their side of the paperwork for Burgum's hearing. Due to this, Senate Democrats requested a week-long delay in Burgum's hearing. Ultimately the hearing would be delayed by 2 days, from January 14 to January 16.

During Burgum's hearing he stated that he viewed America's public lands and waters as part of the country's financial "balance sheet," and advocated for extracting potentially trillions of dollars worth of oil, gas and minerals via mining and drilling. He also stated that he intended to realize Trump's plan for energy independence via "energy dominance" and an expansion of America's fossil fuel production. He also argued that curbs on energy production posed a national security threat as it means the United States has to import fuel from other countries, such as Russia and Iran. He also said "I believe that climate change is a global phenomenon, for sure."

Following his hearing the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee scheduled a vote for January 23 and approved his nomination in a 18–2 vote. He would later be confirmed by the Senate in a 79–18 vote on January 30.

Tenure

Burgum signing his first order as secretary of the Interior on February 3, 2025

On February 1, Burgum was sworn in as the 55th United States secretary of the Interior by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Burgum's first act was sending a department-wide email calling for reduced regulation and the expansion of natural resource extraction. To this end Burgum signed a suite of orders to speed project development and permitting and to eliminate regulations from the Inflation Reduction Act. Andrea Travnicek a North Dakotan who worked in Burgum's gubernatorial cabinet and in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was nominated by Trump as assistant secretary of the Interior.

Burgum was praised by many tribes for ordering that indigenous related programs be exempt from Trump’s cutting of government Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.

Burgum onboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump signing a proclamation declaring February 9th "Gulf of America Day", 2025

Coming into the position, Burgum was also put at the front to lead Trump’s efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” which included his department contacting mapping companies like Google Maps.

On February 18, 2025, Trump announced that Burgum, as interior secretary, would lead his "National Energy Dominance Council" with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright as vice-chairman.

Political positions

Burgum has made comments about President Joe Biden and his performance as president of the United States on Facebook and in public messages.

Burgum endorsed former president Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Trump also endorsed Burgum during each of his gubernatorial elections.

Energy

Burgum has been very vocal on his support for the fossil fuel industry, especially in the Bakken region of western North Dakota. But he also signed a bill to create clean energy sustainable for the state on April 26, 2021. Burgum supports the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Personal life

Burgum married his first wife, Karen Stoker, in 1991. They had three children before divorcing in 2003. In 2016, Burgum married Kathryn Helgaas. As first lady of North Dakota, Kathryn Burgum champions the Recovery Reinvented program on addiction and recovery.

While campaigning for president in 2024, Burgum said in an interview that he likes the music of Keith Urban and enjoys watching the television shows Yellowstone and Ted Lasso.

Board work

Burgum served on the advisory board for the Stanford Graduate School of Business and was on the board of SuccessFactors during the 2000s, serving as chair from 2007 until the 2011 sale of the company to SAP. In 2012 he became the first chairman of the board for Atlassian, after it expanded from its initial board of three members (none of whom served as chair). During 2011 and 2014, he twice spent several months as the interim CEO of Intelligent InSites, a company for which he has served as the executive board chair since 2008. In the same year he became a member of Avalara's board of directors.

Philanthropy

In 2001, Burgum donated a refurbished school building he had acquired in 2000 to North Dakota State University. It was named Renaissance Hall and became home to the university's visual arts department, major components of the architecture and landscape architecture department, and the Tri-College University office. In 2008, Burgum started the Doug Burgum Family Fund, which focuses its charitable giving on youth, education, and health. In 2011, the Burgum family donated about $800,000 to the Plains Art Museum in Fargo to support its Center for Creativity, which is named in honor of Burgum's mother, Katherine Kilbourne Burgum.

Awards and honors

Burgum received honorary doctorates from North Dakota State University in 2000 and the University of Mary in 2006.

In 2009, Burgum received the Theodore Roosevelt Roughrider Award from governor John Hoeven.

Electoral history

See also

In Spanish: Doug Burgum para niños