Greg Gianforte

Greg Gianforte
Born April 17, 1961
San Diego, California, U.S.
Alma mater Stevens Institute of
Technology
Political party
 Republican
Religion Christianity
Spouse(s) Susan Gianforte
Website
Official website

Greg Gianforte (born April 17, 1961) is an American engineer, businessman and political activist.

Greg and his wife founded RightNow Technologies, a cloud-based software company, in an extra bedroom of their home in Bozeman, Montana. Under his leadership, the company grew to more than 1,100 employees worldwide and more than $225 million in annual revenue becoming Bozeman’s largest commercial employer and Montana’s only publicly traded technology firm. RightNow served about 2,000 of the world’s largest consumer firms like Nike, Motorola and AMEX becoming one of the world’s 100 largest web sites in terms of traffic.

Greg has also authored several books, including “Bootstrapping Your Business: Start and Grow a Successful Company With Almost No Money,” and has lectured on the topic at leading business schools worldwide.

Career

Gianforte holds a B.E. degree in electrical engineering and an M.S. degree in computer science from Stevens Institute of Technology. Gianforte began his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories and was one of the engineers on AT&T’s StarLAN Network project.

Gianforte co-founded Brightwork Development Inc., a developer of network management applications. Gianforte served as president and built the company to 75 employees with software installed on 150,000 Novell network systems, and then sold the business to McAfee Associates in 1994. Retained by McAfee, Gianforte went on to serve as North American VP, where the company’s North American sales operation grew from $25 million to more than $60 million in revenues in less than a year.

Gianforte founded RightNow Technologies in 1997 which went public in 2004 and was sold to Oracle Corporation for $1.5 billion in 2011.[1]

Philanthropy

Gianforte is the chairman of the board at Petra Academy, a classical Christian school in Bozeman, Montana.[2][3]

In 2012, the Gianforte Family Foundation donated over $4.6 million in scholarships to help low and moderate income families attend the school of their choice.[4] Gianforte was instrumental in bringing ACE Scholarships to Montana.[5]

In 2009, his Gianforte Family Foundation , helped fund the $1.5 million creationist dinosaur museum in Glendive, Montana .[6]

Current initiatives

Gianforte cofounded Code Montana, a free interactive program that encourages high school students to pursue computer science in college. The first-year goal was to have 1,000 students involved and currently there are more than 1,100 students enrolled. The new goal is 5,000 students by next spring.[7][8]

Gianforte is evangelizing the power of high tech business to improve the average pay across Montana, using his business plan for better jobs which takes a four-pronged approach: Promote high-tech jobs, help entrepreneurs, create organizations to support businesses and prepare Montana's youth.[9][10]

Community service

The Gianforte Family Foundation supports a number of Christian & family causes in Montana.[11]

The Gianforte Family Charitable Trust gave more than $335,000 to the Montana Family Foundation between 2006-2011.[12] Greg's wife, Susan Gianforte, chairs the Montana Family Foundation.[13] The Montana Family Foundation supports "School Choice" (the ability for students to attend the school of their choice), promotes traditional family values, and promotes a culture of life.[14]

Social and political activism

Gianforte has been active on a number of social-political issues in Montana. Much of this activism stems from the Gianforte Family Foundation, which supports causes with a conservative Christian view.[15]

Gianforte has close ties to the Montana Family Foundation. His Gianforte Family Charitable Trust gave more than $335,000 to the Montana Family Foundation between 2006-2011.[16] Greg's wife, Susan Gianforte, chairs the Montana Family Foundation.[17]

The choice of Gianforte as the 2014 graduation commencement speaker at Montana Tech, a premier public science and engineering college in Butte, resulted in a protest by students and faculty critical of Gianforte's activism in the name of creation science and anti-LGBT issues.[18][19]

It is reported that Gianforte is planning a potential challenge to Montana Governor Steve Bullock (Montana politician) in the 2016 gubernatorial election.[20]

Honors

Gianforte was named to TechAmerica Foundations's Cloud2 Commission in 2011.[21]

In 2007 Gianforte was inducted in the CRM Hall of Fame.[22]

Gianforte received the 2003 Stevens Institute of Technology’s Stevens Honor Award.[23]

Gianforte was named Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2003.[24]

CRM Magazine awarded Gianforte the "2003 Influential Leader"[25] award for his successful leadership of RightNow to 18 consecutive quarters of revenue growth during a time when most CRM vendors were struggling to achieve their revenue targets.

Gianforte was invited to be the commencement speaker for Stevens Institute of Technology.[26]

He founded Bootstrap Montana, a program to help entrepreneurs learn the principles of bootstrapping and provide micro-loans to rural Montana entrepreneurs.[27]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-24/oracle-agrees-to-purchase-rightnow-technologies-for-about-1-5-billion.html
  2. ↑ https://petraacademy.com/academy/petra-distinctives/
  3. ↑ https://petraacademy.com/academy/school-board/
  4. ↑ http://www.nbcmontana.com/Gianforte-Gives-4-6-Million-In-Private-School-Scholarships-For-Low-Income-Kids/14291206
  5. ↑ http://www.acescholarships.org/News-Video/ACE-Expands-Into-Montana?Lang=en-US
  6. ↑ Healy, Donna (October 18, 2009). "Staff". Billings Gazette. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  7. ↑ http://technews.tmcnet.com/news/2014/04/02/7758063.htm
  8. ↑ http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/greg-gianforte/image_7fb0e0e6-7bb0-58aa-87fb-63817e1b5065.html
  9. ↑ http://bettermontanajobs.com/the-plan/
  10. ↑ http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/economy/article_58ac7a56-9db6-11e3-ad17-0019bb2963f4.html
  11. ↑ "Gianforte Family Foundation"
  12. ↑ "Technology mogul bolsters profile across Montana"
  13. ↑ "About Us--Susan Gianforte"
  14. ↑ "Montana Family Foundation"
  15. ↑ "Gianforte Family Foundation"
  16. ↑ "Technology mogul bolsters profile across Montana"
  17. ↑ "About Us--Susan Gianforte"
  18. ↑ "Faculty, students to boycott Tech graduation over speakers"
  19. ↑ "Creationists at Commencement"
  20. ↑ "Technology mogul bolsters profile across Montana"
  21. ↑ TechAmerica Foundtations's Cloud2 Commission
  22. ↑ CRM Hall of Fame
  23. ↑ Stevens Institute of Technology’s Stevens Honor Award
  24. ↑ Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year
  25. ↑ CRM Magazine 2003 Influential Leader
  26. ↑
  27. ↑ Bootstrap Montana

External links