Jack Dangermond
American billionaire businessman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Jacob Dangermond (born July 23, 1945) bka Jack Dangermond[3][4][5][6] is an American billionaire businessman and environmental scientist. He is the co-founder and president of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), a privately held geographic information systems (GIS) software company that he started with his wife Laura in 1969.[7] As of April 2026, his net worth was estimated at US$13.4 billion.[8]
July 23, 1945
University of Minnesota (MUP)
Harvard University (MLA)
Jack Dangermond | |
|---|---|
Dangermond in 2012 | |
| Born | Paul Jacob Dangermond July 23, 1945 Loma Linda, California, U.S. |
| Education | California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (BS) University of Minnesota (MUP) Harvard University (MLA) |
| Known for | Co-founder and president, Esri |
| Spouse |
Laura C. Herman (m. 1966) |
| Website | esri |
Dangermond, Esri's president, works at its headquarters in Redlands, California. He founded the company to perform land-use analysis; however, its focus evolved into GIS-software development, highlighted by the release of ARC/INFO in the early 1980s. The development and marketing of ARC/INFO positioned Esri with the dominant market share among GIS-software developers. Esri's flagship product, ArcGIS, traces its heritage to Dangermond's initial efforts in developing ARC/INFO.
Dangermond is the founder of GIS Day: an annual, worldwide event taking place since 1999 to celebrate accomplishments and to promote the use of GIS and its technology.[9]
Early life and education
Dangermond was born and raised in Redlands to Dutch immigrants: Peter Dangermond Sr. and Alice Meines.[10][11][12] His parents owned a plant nursery in the town.[13] Dangermond attended Redlands High School, and graduated in 1963.[14]
Dangermond completed his undergraduate degree in landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.[13][15] He then earned a Master in Urban Planning from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1969.[13][5] His early work in the school's Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (LCGSA) led directly to the development of Esri's ARC/INFO GIS software. He has been awarded 13 honorary doctoral degrees.[citation needed]
Career
In May 1970, Dangermond collaborated with Kingsbury Elementary School, located in Redlands, on a landscape design involving planting a total of 300 trees for its school grounds.[16][17]
In 2000, Dangermond was selected to be a fellow for University of California, Riverside's A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management.[18]
Philanthropy
In 2005, Dangermond helped Duane Marble establish the American Association of Geographers Marble Fund for Geographic Science.[19] This fund serves to advance GIScience education by providing awards to undergraduate and graduate student research.[19] These awards include the "Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Award," "William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography," and the "Marble Fund Award for Innovative Master's Research in Quantitative Geography."[20][21][22]
In December 2017, Jack and Laura Dangermond donated $165 million to establish the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve on the Pacific coast, the largest ever gift to The Nature Conservancy.[23][24]
Jack and Laura Dangermond have signed The Giving Pledge.[25]
In January 2020, Jack and Laura Dangermond donated $3 million to the Museum of Redlands fund.[26]
Honors
Dangermond has received many awards, including:
- Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau[27]
- Horwood Distinguished Service Award of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association in 1988[28]
- John Wesley Powell Award of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1996
- Anderson Medal of the Association of American Geographers in 1998[29]
- Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society in 1999[citation needed]
- EduCause Medal of EduCause[citation needed]
- Honorary doctorate from the University of West-Hungary in 2003[citation needed]
- Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal of the International Cartographic Association in 2007[citation needed]
- Honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 2008[30]
- Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 2010.[31]
- Alexander Graham Bell Medal of the National Geographic Society in 2010, together with Roger Tomlinson.[32][33]
- Fellow of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science in 2012[34]
- Recipient of the Entrepreneurial Vision Award (Champions of the Earth) in 2013.[35]
- Audubon Medal of the National Audubon Society in 2015[36][37]
See also
- Geographic information science – Scientific discipline
- Michael Frank Goodchild – British-American geographer
- National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis
- Technical geography – Study of spatial information
- Qualitative geography – Subfield of geographic methods
- Quantitative geography – Subfield of geographic methods
- University Consortium for Geographic Information Science
