James Goodnight
Encyclopedia
SAS Institute
SAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
and is generally recognized as the wealthiest man in the state of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and one of the wealthiest in the world.
Biography
He was born in Salisbury, NC and lived in Greensboro, NC until his family moved to Wilmington, North CarolinaWilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
when he was 12. As a youth, he often worked in his father's hardware store in Wilmington. His parents, Albert Goodnight and Dorothy Patterson Goodnight, are deceased. Even at a young age, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
were his strongest subjects—thanks in part, he says, to a “wonderful chemistry teacher” at New Hanover High School
New Hanover High School
New Hanover High School is a high school located in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. New Hanover High is now the oldest present high school built in Wilmington. Recently the original building underwent a complete renovation to update the 1919 school to the 21st century. New Hanover is also the...
. He applied to North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, and opted for NC State in part because of his friendship with Roman Gabriel
Roman Gabriel
Roman Ildonzo Gabriel, Jr. is a former American football player. The son of a Filipino immigrant, he was the first Asian-American to start as an NFL quarterback and is considered by many to have been one of the best players at that position during the late 1960s and early 70s.Gabriel attended and...
, a star football player from Wilmington who went on to an All-American career as a quarterback for the Wolfpack. While attending State, Goodnight became friends with Bruce Griffith, who, with Goodnight's insight into technology, went on to become a billionaire in the forest products and private equity industries.
Goodnight fell in love with computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s in the one computer course he took at NC State in his sophomore year. “In mid-stream, a light went on, and I fell in love, making machines which do things for other people,” he says. The following summer he got a job writing programs for the agricultural economics department. The intrigue never waned. A few years later, while working on his master's, his curiosity was piqued over the prospect of man being sent to the moon. His programming skills helped him land a position with a company building electronic equipment for the ground stations that would communicate with the Apollo space capsules. Goodnight met his wife, Ann, while he was a senior at NC State and she was attending Meredith College
Meredith College
Meredith College is a liberal arts women's college located in Raleigh, North Carolina. For the 2010-2011 academic year, there were approximately 2,300 students enrolled, including about 350 graduate students, making Meredith the largest women's college in the southeastern United States...
.
Goodnight also owns Prestonwood Country Club, located in Cary, North Carolina. Prestonwood is known for its restaurant the "Red Fox," as well as Vance Heafner
Vance Heafner
Vance Heafner is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, the Nationwide Tour and the Champions Tour. He is the son of professional golfer Clayton Heafner....
, a professional golfer in employment at Prestonwood.
Goodnight holds a doctorate in statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
from North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
, where he was a member of the faculty from 1972 to 1976. James Goodnight is also a member of the social fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon is a college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899 at Illinois Wesleyan University with chapters in the United States, and Canada, and affiliation with a German fraternity system known as the Corps of the Weinheimer Senioren Convent...
. With contributions from other esteemed alumni in TKE, he was responsible for the building of a new fraternity house which was completed in 2002. Over the years, improving the state of education (particularly elementary and secondary) has become an area of great interest to Goodnight. He is also the benefactor of Cary Academy
Cary Academy
Cary Academy is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian, college-preparatory secondary school in Cary, North Carolina established in 1996. The school places an emphasis on the use of technology in the classroom, with tablet computers issued to all students...
, a private school near the SAS Campus.
He is still active in developing products for the company he runs. SAS Institute
SAS Institute
SAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
, which puts a quarter of its profits into research & development, develops business intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
software. In 2004, Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
named him as one of the "20th Century’s Great American Business Leaders,". He speaks internationally on leadership, education and innovation.
According to the 2007 Forbes 400 list, he is worth 8.7 billion U.S. dollars. According to the 2010 Forbes 400 list, he is now worth 6.9 billion U.S. dollars.