Doug Burgum

Doug Burgum
Born	Douglas James Burgum 1 8, 1956
Birthplace	Arthur, North Dakota, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, businessman
Title	55th United States Secretary of the Interior
Known for	CEO of Great Plains Software, Governor of North Dakota, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Education	Stanford University (MBA)
Children	3
Website	Official site

Douglas James Burgum (born August 1, 1956) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 55th United States Secretary of the Interior since February 1, 2025, under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, Burgum previously served as the 33rd Governor of North Dakota from December 2016 to December 2024. Before entering politics, Burgum built a career in the technology industry, most notably as the president and chief executive of Great Plains Software, a Fargo-based accounting and business management software company that he helped grow from a small startup into a publicly traded firm before selling it to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. Born and raised in the small town of Arthur, North Dakota, Burgum later became a prominent figure in the economic development of downtown Fargo through his real-estate firm, the Kilbourne Group, and co-founded Arthur Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on software companies. He served on the boards of major technology firms, including Australian software company Atlassian and human capital management firm SuccessFactors. Burgum launched an unsuccessful campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in June 2023 before withdrawing in December of that year and subsequently becoming an advisor on energy policy to the Trump campaign. As Secretary of the Interior, Burgum has overseen significant policy changes regarding energy development on federal lands, including expanded drilling and minerals extraction.

Early Life

Douglas James Burgum was born on August 1, 1956, in Arthur, North Dakota, a small community in Cass County with a population of fewer than 400 people. He grew up in a family with deep roots in the community. His family had ties to the grain elevator business and farming in the area. The Burgum family operated a grain elevator and chimney sweep business in Arthur, providing the young Burgum with an early exposure to small-town commerce and agriculture that would later inform both his business ventures and his political career.

The town of Arthur, situated along the railroad line in the flat terrain of the Red River Valley, was representative of the small agricultural communities that have long defined North Dakota's economic and cultural landscape. Burgum's upbringing in this environment instilled in him a familiarity with the challenges facing rural communities, including economic volatility tied to agricultural commodity prices and the persistent difficulty of retaining young professionals in small towns.

Burgum's family also had connections to Northern School Supply, a Fargo-based business that distributed school supplies and educational materials across the upper Midwest. The company had been founded in the early twentieth century and became a significant regional enterprise. These family business connections gave Burgum an early understanding of entrepreneurship and regional commerce that would prove foundational to his later career in technology and real estate.

Education

Burgum attended North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, where he earned a bachelor's degree in university studies in 1978. He then pursued graduate education at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in California, one of the most competitive business programs in the United States. He earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Stanford in 1980. The combination of his North Dakota roots and his Stanford business education would prove significant in shaping Burgum's career trajectory, providing him with both a deep connection to the Great Plains region and exposure to the entrepreneurial culture of Silicon Valley during a formative period in the personal computing revolution.

Career

Great Plains Software

In 1983, three years after completing his MBA at Stanford, Burgum made a pivotal financial decision: he mortgaged farmland he had inherited to invest in Great Plains Software, a small accounting software company based in Fargo, North Dakota. The investment was a considerable risk, leveraging tangible agricultural assets to fund a stake in a young technology firm at a time when the software industry was still in its early stages of development. Burgum became president of Great Plains Software in 1984, assuming operational leadership of the company and guiding its strategic direction over the next seventeen years.

Under Burgum's leadership, Great Plains Software grew from a small regional firm into a nationally recognized enterprise software company specializing in accounting and business management applications for small and mid-sized businesses. The company established its headquarters in Fargo, becoming one of the most prominent technology employers in North Dakota and contributing to the city's emergence as an unexpected hub for technology enterprise in the Great Plains region.

A significant milestone came in 1997, when Burgum took Great Plains Software public, listing the company on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The initial public offering marked a major achievement for the company and for the Fargo business community, demonstrating that a technology company based in the upper Midwest could compete successfully in national capital markets.

In 2001, Microsoft acquired Great Plains Software in a deal valued at $1.1 billion, one of the largest technology acquisitions involving a North Dakota company. The acquisition brought Great Plains Software's product line under the Microsoft umbrella and resulted in Burgum joining Microsoft to manage the integration. At Microsoft, Burgum oversaw Microsoft Business Solutions, the division that incorporated Great Plains' products along with other business application software. His tenure at Microsoft provided him with experience managing a large division within one of the world's largest technology corporations.

Post-Microsoft Business Ventures

After leaving Microsoft, Burgum turned his attention to a range of business ventures, many of them centered in Fargo. He founded the Kilbourne Group, a real-estate development company focused on revitalizing downtown Fargo. The firm invested in significant commercial and mixed-use development projects in the city's urban core, contributing to a broader effort to transform Fargo's downtown into a more vibrant, walkable district. Burgum's development activities through the Kilbourne Group were part of a broader downtown Fargo revitalization effort that included a riverside master plan approved by city leaders.

Burgum also co-founded Arthur Ventures, a venture capital firm named after his hometown that focused on investing in software and technology companies, particularly those operating outside of traditional technology hubs such as Silicon Valley and New York. Arthur Ventures sought to provide growth-stage capital to innovative companies in underserved markets across the United States.

Beyond his own ventures, Burgum served on the boards of directors of several prominent technology companies. In 2012, he joined the board of Atlassian, the Australian software company known for products such as Jira and Confluence, eventually serving as board chairman. He also served as board chairman for SuccessFactors, a human capital management software company that was later acquired by SAP.

Governor of North Dakota

2016 Election

In January 2016, Burgum announced his candidacy for Governor of North Dakota, entering the Republican primary as a political outsider with no prior experience in elected office. His campaign emphasized themes of government reinvention, economic diversification, and leveraging technology to modernize state government operations. Burgum positioned himself as a business-minded candidate capable of bringing private-sector efficiency and innovation to state government at a time when North Dakota was grappling with the economic consequences of a downturn in oil prices, which had significantly impacted the state's budget following years of rapid growth fueled by the Bakken formation oil boom.

Burgum won the Republican primary and then won the general election in November 2016 in a landslide victory. He took office as the 33rd Governor of North Dakota on December 15, 2016, succeeding Jack Dalrymple. His lieutenant governor was Brent Sanford.

First Term (2016–2020)

Burgum's first term as governor coincided with several significant issues for North Dakota. Among the most prominent was the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) controversy, which involved large-scale protests by Native American tribes and environmental activists near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation against the construction of a crude oil pipeline beneath Lake Oahe on the Missouri River. Burgum addressed the situation through video messages and public statements during the extended standoff.

During his tenure, Burgum worked on issues related to workforce development, with businesses in the state citing workforce struggles as a key concern. The state legislature considered measures related to discrimination protections in the context of attracting and retaining workers.

2020 Reelection

Burgum sought and won reelection in 2020 by a wide margin, continuing to serve with Brent Sanford as lieutenant governor before Tammy Miller later served in that capacity. His second term extended through December 15, 2024, when he was succeeded by Kelly Armstrong.

2024 Presidential Campaign

In June 2023, while still serving as governor, Burgum launched a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He entered a crowded primary field that included former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and several other candidates. Burgum's campaign focused on energy policy, economic competitiveness, and his experience as both a technology executive and a governor. Despite participating in Republican primary debates, his campaign struggled to gain significant traction in national polling. Burgum ended his candidacy in early December 2023. Following his withdrawal from the presidential race, Burgum became an advisor to Donald Trump's campaign on energy policy, a role that positioned him for a potential appointment in a future Trump administration.

Secretary of the Interior

On November 14, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Burgum as the United States Secretary of the Interior. The nomination placed Burgum in line to oversee the Department of the Interior, which manages approximately 500 million acres of federal lands — about one-fifth of the total land area of the United States — as well as the nation's natural resources, national parks, wildlife refuges, and relations with Native American tribes.

Burgum's confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate proceeded without major obstacles. On January 30, 2025, the Senate confirmed Burgum in a bipartisan vote of 79–18, reflecting substantial cross-party support for his nomination. He was sworn in as the 55th Secretary of the Interior on February 1, 2025, succeeding Deb Haaland, who had served in the role during the Biden administration. His deputy secretary is Katharine MacGregor.

Energy and Land Management Policy

As Secretary of the Interior, Burgum has overseen significant shifts in federal land management and energy policy, consistent with the Trump administration's emphasis on what it has described as "energy dominance." Under his leadership, the Department of the Interior has promoted expanded oil and gas drilling on federal lands, increased coal-fired power production, and expanded metals extraction from federal lands and wildlife refuges, while curtailing the development of wind energy projects on federal land.

In a notable action in early 2026, Burgum's Department of the Interior issued Public Land Order No. 7966, opening approximately 2.1 million acres in Alaska's Dalton Utility Corridor to economic development by revoking earlier public land orders that had placed restrictions on the land. The move was welcomed by Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy.

Burgum has also partnered with state governments to streamline permitting processes for energy and infrastructure projects. Idaho Governor Brad Little signed a memorandum of understanding with Burgum to fast-track permitting for energy and infrastructure projects in the state.

The Department of the Interior under Burgum issued a final rule curbing and streamlining environmental reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Critics of the rule argued that the changes were legally questionable and could undermine environmental protections.

In February 2026, Burgum was part of a delegation of senior Trump administration officials, alongside EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, dispatched to Japan to engage with Indo-Pacific leaders on energy policy and resource security.

Burgum has also been involved in the Trump administration's push regarding Greenland, publicly casting the territory as a strategically vital asset for the U.S. economy and national security, particularly with respect to mineral rights and resource extraction opportunities.

The department's policies on offshore wind energy drew criticism from some state officials. New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote directly to Burgum raising concerns about the Department of the Interior's actions affecting offshore wind projects, arguing that such projects had already undergone extensive federal review.

Personal Life

Burgum was born and raised in Arthur, North Dakota, and has maintained strong ties to the state throughout his career. He has three children. His business activities through the Kilbourne Group and his personal investment in downtown Fargo real estate have made him one of the most prominent figures in the city's urban development. Burgum's connection to Fargo extends beyond real estate; his decision to base Great Plains Software in the city, rather than relocating to a larger technology market, was instrumental in establishing Fargo as a center for technology employment in the northern Great Plains.

Burgum's personal wealth, derived in significant part from the sale of Great Plains Software to Microsoft, has been a factor in both his business ventures and his political campaigns. His self-funded gubernatorial campaign in 2016 drew attention to his financial resources and his willingness to invest personal funds in his political aspirations.

Burgum has been involved in philanthropic activities in North Dakota, including support for education and community development initiatives, though the full scope of his charitable giving has not been comprehensively documented in public sources.

Recognition

Burgum's career in technology earned him recognition in the business community. His leadership of Great Plains Software from a small startup to a billion-dollar acquisition by Microsoft has been cited as one of the most notable business success stories in North Dakota's history. His role in developing downtown Fargo through the Kilbourne Group has been recognized as a significant contribution to urban revitalization in the upper Midwest.

His election as governor in 2016 as a political outsider with no prior experience in elected office attracted national attention as part of a broader trend of business executives entering politics. His subsequent appointment as Secretary of the Interior placed him in one of the most consequential cabinet positions in the federal government with respect to land management, natural resources, and energy policy.

Burgum's bipartisan Senate confirmation vote of 79–18 reflected a level of cross-party support that was notable in the context of an otherwise polarized political environment. The margin of his confirmation suggested that senators from both parties viewed his background in business and state governance as relevant qualifications for the role.