Doug Burgum

Doug Burgum is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He joined Great Plains Software in 1983 and became the company’s President in 1984, which he later sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. At Microsoft he became the head of Microsoft Business Solutions. He began serving as Chairman of the board for Atlassian in 2012. He also served on the board for SuccessFactors starting in 2007, and as Chairman from 2010 to 2012. Burgum is the founder of Kilbourne Group, a Fargo-based real-estate development firm, and co-founder of Arthur Ventures. In 2016 he announced his intention to run for Governor of North Dakota as a Republican candidate.

Early life and education

Burgum was born on August 1, 1956 and raised in Arthur, North Dakota, where his grandfather founded a grain elevator in 1906. He attended the North Dakota State University to earn his undergraduate degree in 1978 and received an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1980. He would later receive honorary doctorates from North Dakota State in 2000 and from the University of Mary in 2006.

Burgum

Burgum (Dutch: Bergum) is the largest and administrative town of the municipality of Tytsjerksteradiel, in the Dutch province of Friesland, with a population of 10083 inhabitants (December 1, 2009). Since January 1, 1989 the West Frisian name Burgum is the official name, before 1989 the Dutch name was the official one.

The name Burgum is suggestive of an area of higher altitude than the surrounding area. The province of Friesland is bordered in the north by the Wadden Sea. In ancient and medieval times, habitation in Friesland occurred only in those areas which were elevated above sea level (for example in Burgum) or on artificially built mounds known as terp, weird or ward. These mounds were areas of refuge in times of flooding. The artificial mounds became redundant after the building of the dykes on the border of the Wadden Sea. Habitation of this area goes back to the Stone Age.

Main things to see in Burgum are the Town Hall and the Krústsjerke (Cross Church) which is the remainder of a convent burned in the Eighty Years' War.