DB
Doug Burgum
RepublicanSecretary of the Interior| Age | 69 (b. 1956-08-01) |
| Gender | Male |
| In office since | 2025-01-20 (~1 yrs) |
| Race / ethnicity | White (English American descent) |
| Religion | Christian; raised Methodist |
| Education | B.A. in University Studies, North Dakota State University (1978); MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business (1980) |
| Prior occupation | Software entrepreneur (co-founder, president and CEO of Great Plains Software, sold to Microsoft for ~$1.1 billion in 2001); Senior VP at Microsoft Business Solutions; venture capitalist (Arthur Ventures) and real estate developer (Kilbourne Group); former McKinsey & Company consultant |
| Military service | No |
| Birthplace | Arthur, North Dakota |
| Marital status | Married — Kathryn Helgaas Burgum |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | North Dakota (Fargo, ND); resides in Washington, D.C. area while serving as Interior Secretary |
Pending research: languages · notable relatives · openly lgbtq.
Career & politics
| First elected | 2016 |
| Previous offices | Governor of North Dakota (2016-2024, 33rd governor) |
| Leadership | Chair, National Energy Dominance Council (2025-present); designated Trump administration 'energy czar' |
| Ideology | Republican; pro-fossil-fuel/energy-development conservative; signed near-total abortion ban and ban on gender-affirming care for minors as governor; received an 'A' grade from the NRA Political Victory Fund |
| Signature legislation | Signed North Dakota near-total abortion ban (April 2023) · Signed Social Security income tax exemption (2021) · Signed ban on critical race theory in K-12 schools (2021) · Signed near-total ban on gender-affirming care for minors (2023) · As Interior Secretary: opened ~1.53 million acres of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling (2025); led renaming of Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America'; halted Equinor offshore wind project (2025) |
Financial
Net worth: disclosed $56,000,000–$252,000,000 (2025) · estimate
| Arthur Ventures II, LP | private_equity · $5,000,000–$25,000,000 · 2025 |
| Arthur Ventures III, LP | private_equity · $5,000,000–$25,000,000 · 2025 |
| Jane Software, Inc. (via Arthur Ventures II) | private_equity · $5,000,000–$25,000,000 · 2025 |
| ThreatLocker, Inc. (via Arthur Ventures III) | private_equity · $5,000,000–$25,000,000 · 2025 |
| Lone View, LLC (Big Sky, MT condo) | real_estate · $5,000,000–$25,000,000 · 2025 |
| Loretta, LLC (commercial real estate, Fargo) | real_estate · $5,000,000–$25,000,000 · 2025 |
| Arthur Ventures I, LP | private_equity · $1,000,000–$5,000,000 · 2025 |
| Arthur Ventures IV, LP | private_equity · $1,000,000–$5,000,000 · 2025 |
| Atlassian Corporation (TEAM) | stock · $1,000,000–$5,000,000 · 2025 |
| Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) | stock · $1,000,000–$5,000,000 · 2025 |
Top donors: Miles D. White (former Abbott Laboratories CEO) - $2M to Best of America PAC plus $3,300 direct ($2,003,300) · Frederick Burgum (Arthur, ND) - to Best of America PAC ($2,000,000) · Farrington Rocket LLC - to Best of America PAC ($2,000,000)
Top industries: Pharmaceuticals/Health Products · Oil & Gas · Technology
Scandals & crimes ledger
No recorded incidents. Under the adjudicated-only methodology, an entry appears only when a court or official body has formally acted and the record is cited.