75 Facts About Doug Burgum

Douglas James Burgum 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.

Doug Burgum has served as board chairman for Australian software company Atlassian and SuccessFactors.

Doug Burgum is the founder of Kilbourne Group, a Fargo-based real-estate development firm, and is the co-founder of Arthur Ventures, a software venture capital group.

Doug Burgum won the 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial election in a landslide.

Doug Burgum was reelected by a wide margin in 2020.

In June 2023, Doug Burgum launched a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Doug Burgum ended his candidacy in early December 2023, and became an advisor on the Trump campaign's energy policy.

Doug Burgum was born on August 1,1956, in Arthur, North Dakota, the son of Katherine and Joseph Boyd Doug Burgum.

Doug Burgum has a brother, Bradley, and a sister, Barbara.

Doug Burgum was born where his grandfather established a grain elevator in 1906.

Doug Burgum evolved into an agribusiness that the family still owns.

Doug Burgum later said that the experience shaped him as a person.

Doug Burgum graduated from North Dakota State University in 1978.

Doug Burgum was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and served as student body president.

Doug Burgum later studied at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he befriended Steve Ballmer, who became CEO of Microsoft.

In March 1983, Doug Burgum mortgaged $250,000 of farmland to provide the seed capital for accounting software company Great Plains Software in Fargo.

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.

Doug Burgum 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.

In 2008 Doug Burgum co-founded Arthur Ventures, a venture capital company that invests in businesses involved in technology, life sciences, and clean technologies.

Doug Burgum is the founder of the Kilbourne Group, a real-estate development firm focused on downtown Fargo.

Doug Burgum advocated for a convention center to be built in downtown Fargo.

Doug Burgum endorsed Republican Steve Sydness for one of North Dakota's US Senate seats in 1988.

Doug Burgum supported the gubernatorial campaigns of Republicans John Hoeven and Jack Dalrymple in 2008 and 2012.

In 2016, Doug Burgum announced his candidacy for governor of North Dakota as a Republican.

Doug Burgum was sworn in on December 15,2016, alongside running mate Brent Sanford.

Doug 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.

Since taking office, Doug Burgum has presented the Rough Rider Award, North Dakota's highest civilian award, numerous times.

In October 2023, Doug Burgum condemned Hamas's and noted that 84 North Dakotans who were on a church tour were stranded in Bethlehem as the fighting began.

Doug Burgum had to be present in Bismarck to approve the 14 separate budget bills that the legislature seeks to pass to recreate the initial budget.

Doug Burgum stating he expected to return to this presidential campaign within a week of the session being called the special session resolved the budget and was closed in just three days.

On January 22,2024, Doug Burgum announced that he would not run for a third term as governor.

In March 2023, Doug Burgum expressed interest in running for president in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Doug Burgum was reported to have spent more money on advertisements than any other presidential candidate.

Doug Burgum was endorsed by North Dakota's entire Congressional delegation, US senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer and US representative Kelly Armstrong.

Doug Burgum was endorsed by actor Josh Duhamel, who endorsed him in his 2016 campaign.

Doug Burgum expressed support for the US Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.

Doug Burgum's support derived from his position that abortion restrictions should be left to states.

Doug Burgum pledged that as president he would not sign a national abortion ban and that the president should not focus on culture war issues.

Later, Trump said Doug Burgum would be "very good" as vice president, but reiterated that he had not yet made a decision.

Doug Burgum spoke on behalf of Trump at the North Dakota caucuses.

Trump ally and US senator Kevin Cramer said Doug Burgum would be a clear front-runner for a cabinet position, most likely Secretary of Energy.

Doug Burgum is the Trump campaign's main advisor on energy policy.

Doug Burgum's selection was highly praised by numerous Republican senators, including John Barrasso, Dan Sullivan, and Tim Sheehy.

Doug 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 Doug Burgum had completed multiple forms.

Doug Burgum stated that he intended to realize Trump's plan for energy independence via "energy dominance" and an expansion of America's fossil fuel production.

Doug Burgum 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.

Doug Burgum's first act was sending a department-wide email calling for reduced regulation and the expansion of natural resource extraction.

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

Shortly after, Doug Burgum was confirmed as a speaker at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference.

Doug Burgum later announced the department was partnering with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its secretary Scott Turner to use public lands to build more affordable housing in the country.

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

Doug Burgum has said that American energy independence is an issue of national security.

Doug Burgum derided what he called a "full-on assault of liquid fuels in this country" and has regularly criticized policies to subsidize electric vehicles.

Doug Burgum called for opening Bureau of Land Management land for energy-related activities such as rare earth metal mining and oil and natural gas drilling.

Doug Burgum promised to make North Dakota carbon neutral by 2030; he said he would loosen regulations for the gas industry, but said he is committed to clean energy projects.

Doug Burgum criticized the Biden administration for policies phasing out gas stoves in some forms of new housing.

Doug Burgum has been a vocal supporter of carbon-capture pipelines while governor, going so far as to allow three natural gas companies, Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator CO2 Ventures, and Wolf Carbon Solutions, to use eminent domain to seize land to install pipelines.

When confronted about the issue at an Iowa rally, Doug Burgum changed his position, saying he fervently opposed eminent domain, but insisted that carbon capture was good for the economy and the environment and that it would allow the use of traditional internal combustion automobiles indefinitely.

Doug Burgum supported the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization that overturned Roe v Wade.

Doug Burgum received an A grade on gun issues from the NRA Political Victory Fund and signed numerous laws that ease access to firearms.

Shortly afterward, at an event in New Hampshire, Doug Burgum said he believed addiction was the root of most of America's problems, including crime, homelessness, and mental health.

Doug Burgum said that if elected president he would overhaul the reimbursement systems for mental health care and would find a place for the private sector to get involved in funding solutions for substance use disorders.

Doug Burgum deployed the North Dakota National Guard to the southern border with Mexico numerous times to assist Texas.

Doug Burgum argued that energy independence is key to fending off China and Russia.

In 2019, Doug Burgum signed legislation to develop a central cybersecurity operations center for the state's network of over 250,000 users and 400 state and local government entities under the Executive Branch's IT Department-North Dakota Information Technology.

In July 2020, Doug Burgum called the 2020 Republican platform "divisive and divisional" on LGBTQ issues.

Doug Burgum signed numerous veto-proof bills sent by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly during its 2023 session that some have called "anti-trans", including a near-total ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

On November 12,2021, Doug Burgum signed a law banning the teaching of critical race theory in North Dakota K-12 schools.

Doug Burgum supports preserving existing entitlement programs, saying they should be federally protected.

Doug Burgum supports improving federal efficiency to free up more money for entitlement.

Doug 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 2001, Doug Burgum donated a refurbished school building he had acquired in 2000 to North Dakota State University.

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

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