Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (born August 7, 1966) is an American Internet entrepreneur and co-founder and promoter of Wikipedia. Born in Huntsville, Alabama, Wales attended a small private school, then a university preparatory school, eventually attaining a bachelor's degree and master's degree in finance. During his graduate studies he taught at two universities.

Wales took a job in finance, and worked as the research director of a Chicago futures and options firm before retiring from the industry in 2000.[citation needed] In 1996, along with two partners, he founded Bomis, a web portal targeted at males, which hosted and provided the initial funding for the Nupedia peer-reviewed encyclopedia (2000 – 2003), and for its successor, Wikipedia.[citation needed] In 2001, together with Larry Sanger and others, Wales helped launch Wikipedia, a free, open-content encyclopedia which subsequently enjoyed rapid growth and popularity. As Wikipedia's public profile grew, Wales became the project's promoter and spokesman. Wales has been historically cited as the co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed the "co-" designation, asserting that he was the sole founder of the encyclopedia.

He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit charitable organization which operates Wikipedia, holding the board-appointed "community founder" seat. In 2004, he co-founded Wikia, a privately-owned, free Web-hosting service, with fellow Wikimedia trustee Angela Beesley. Wales has been married twice and has a daughter with his second wife, Christine, from whom he is separated.

He self-identifies as an Objectivist and, with reservations, a libertarian. His role in creating Wikipedia, which has become the world's largest encyclopedia, prompted Time magazine to name him in its 2006 list of the world's most influential people. Wales is the de facto leader of Wikipedia; his exact position on the project is a matter of public and press debate.

Similar to 0 things you like: