26 Facts About James Goodnight

James Howard Goodnight was born on January 6,1943 and is an American billionaire businessman and software developer.

James Goodnight has been the CEO of SAS since 1976, which he co-founded that year with other faculty members of North Carolina State University.

James Goodnight lived in Greensboro until he was 12, when his family moved to Wilmington.

James Goodnight was a member of the Beta-Beta chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon at NC State, and contributed to the construction of a new fraternity house for the chapter in 2002.

James Goodnight worked at a company building electronic equipment for the ground stations that communicated with the Apollo space capsules.

James Goodnight returned to North Carolina State University after working on the Apollo project, where he earned a PhD in statistics and was a faculty member from 1972 to 1976.

James Goodnight joined another faculty member at North Carolina State in a research project to create a general purpose statistical analysis system for analyzing agricultural data.

Goodnight along with fellow faculty member Anthony James Barr became project leaders for the development of the early version of SAS.

James Goodnight has remained CEO of SAS Institute for more than 45 years as the company grew from $138,000 in its first year in business, to $420 million in 1993 and $3.2 billion in 2022.

James Goodnight has maintained a flat and flexible organizational structure at the company.

In 1981, James Goodnight was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

James Goodnight has been called the "Godfather of AI" for his role in the creation of SAS.

James Goodnight has been a frequent speaker and participant at the World Economic Forum.

In March 2020, Jim James Goodnight was awarded a CEO Great Place to Work For All Leadership Award by Great Place to Work.

James Goodnight met his wife, Ann, while he was a senior at North Carolina State University and she was attending Meredith College.

James Goodnight rediscovered his interest in geology in adulthood and began collecting rare rocks and other natural objects.

James Goodnight's collection includes hundreds of pieces, coming from over 40 countries.

James Goodnight has described rocks and minerals as a genre of art.

James Goodnight has an interest in improving the state of education, particularly elementary and secondary education.

James Goodnight has advocated for increased funding for STEM education in the United States to prevent brain-drain and the outsourcing of research and technology jobs to other countries.

James Goodnight has advocated for restructuring preschool funding in North Carolina to extend access to more children in the state.

In 2023, the James Goodnight Distinguished Professorship in Early Literacy at Western Carolina University was established with a $1.5 million endowment from the foundation.

James Goodnight has contributed to the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.

James Goodnight has invested heavily in real estate in Cary, which - in addition to tax revenue generated by SAS and the attraction of thousands of employees - has contributed to the town's growth since the 1970s.

James Goodnight has invested in the development of the neighboring community of Chatham Park.

James Goodnight owns Prestonwood Country Club and The Umstead Hotel and Spa situated on the edge of the SAS campus.