Greg Gianforte

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Greg Gianforte
Greg Gianforte wiki.jpg
Member-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Montana's at-large district
Taking office
June 5, 2017
Succeeding Ryan Zinke
Personal details
Born (1961-04-17) April 17, 1961 (age 63)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Susan Gianforte
Children 4
Education Stevens Institute of Technology
(BEng, MS)
Religion Nondenominational Christianity
Website Campaign website

Greg Gianforte (born April 17, 1961) is an American politician and is currently the Representative-elect for Montana's at-large congressional district. On 25 May, 2017 he won a special election following the resignation of Rep. Ryan Zinke who went on to be the Secretary of the Interior.

Greg and his wife founded RightNow Technologies, customer-experience software company.[1] The couple is known for their philanthropy and relationships with various Christian and conservative groups including Focus on the Family and The Heritage Foundation.[2][3]

Education

Gianforte holds a B.E. in electrical engineering and an M.S. degree in computer science, both earned at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1983.

Career

Gianforte began his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories and was one of the engineers on AT&T's StarLAN Network project.

Gianforte co-founded Brightwork Development, a developer of network management applications.[citation needed] He sold the business to McAfee Associates in 1994. Gianforte went on to serve as North American VP, where the company's North American sales operation grew from $25 million to more than $60 million in revenues in less than a year.

Gianforte founded RightNow Technologies in 1997 which went public in 2004 and was sold to Oracle Corporation for $1.5 billion in 2011.[4] Before the sale, RightNow Technologies employed about 500 people at its headquarters in Bozeman, Montana and over 1000 people in total.[5]

Gianforte is a board member of FICO[6] and chair of the board at Petra Academy, a Bozeman, Montana Christian school.[7]

Politics

Gianforte was chosen as the 2014 graduation commencement speaker at Montana Tech, a public science and engineering college in Butte. The choice of speaker resulted in a protest by students and faculty critical of Gianforte's financial support of a museum promoting young Earth creationism and his opposition to same-sex marriage. Gianforte's personal foundation has ties to conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation and religions organizations such as Focus on the Family.[2][8]

2016 Montana gubernatorial election

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Main article: Montana gubernatorial election, 2016

On January 20, 2016, Gianforte announced his candidacy for the Republican Party's nomination for Governor of Montana in the 2016 election.[9] However, he had a political practices complaint filed against him after he allegedly started campaigning before registering.[10][11] The complaint was quickly dismissed.[12]

2017 Montana Special Election

[citation needed]

Gianforte ran on a platform that he believed would create a high wage economy in Montana,[13] which was 49th in wages in 2013 by some counts.[14]

In a campaign speech that year, Gianforte stated that Facebook had passed over Montana for a call center because of that state's business equipment tax.[15] Facebook's spokesman Andy Stone said later that no discussions with Gianforte took place and that the tax was not the reason the company didn't locate a call center in Montana.[16]

Steve Bullock, the incumbent Democrat governor defeated Gianforte in the November general election, 50%–46%.[17]

Family Foundation

In 2006, Gianforte and his wife founded the Gianforte Family Foundation. The foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to various charities[18] and describes as its primary mission to "support the work of Christian organizations engaged in education, poverty, and outreach work" and "protecting the unborn".[19] He, his wife, and his son are the foundation's three board members.[19]

In 2009, the Gianforte Family Foundation helped fund the $1.5 million creationist dinosaur museum in Glendive, Montana.[20]

Honors

Gianforte received an honorary doctorate from Stevens Institute of Technology and gave the commencement speech in 2012.[21]

In 2007, Gianforte was awarded an honorary doctorate from Montana State University's College of Engineering.[22]

In 2007, Gianforte was inducted in the CRM Hall of Fame.[23]

Gianforte received the 2003 Stevens Institute of Technology's Stevens Honor Award.[24]

Gianforte was named Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2003.[25]

CRM Magazine awarded Gianforte the "2003 Influential Leader".[26]

Personal life

Gianforte and his wife, Susan, live in Bozeman, Montana, and together they have four children.[27] The Gianfortes' attend Grace Bible Church, a nondenominational church in Bozeman, and Gianforte is known for donating for several Christian and conservative groups.[3][28]

References

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  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Great Falls Tribune. "Gianforte unveils ‘406 Tax Relief' plan." 4/18/2016. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2016/04/18/gianforte-unveils-tax-relief-plan/83202158/. Date Accessed: 4/21/2016
  16. ↑ Associated Press. "Facebook disputes claims of Montana candidate." 4/21/2016 http://www.kansas.com/news/business/article73206947.html.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Associated Press. "Gianforte releases tax returns showing income of $220 million over 10 years." Billings Gazette. 1/3/2016. http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/gianforte-releases-tax-returns-showing-income-of-m-over-years/article_788f2715-20c5-536a-98ce-258aa68f40b8.html. Date Accessed: 2/4/2016
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Stevens Institute of Technology's Stevens Honor Award[dead link]
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ CRM Magazine 2003 Influential Leader[dead link]
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Governor of Montana
2016		 Most recent
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