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Is an American billionaire businessman and software developer.
He has been the CEO of SAS Institute since 1976, which he co-founded that year with other faculty members of North Carolina State University.
As of February 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$7.3 billion.
He lived in Greensboro until he was 12, when his family moved to Wilmington.
As a kid he worked at his father's hardware store.
With computers began with a computer course at North Carolina State University. One summer he got a job writing software programs for the agricultural economics department.
Goodnight received a master's degree in statistics in 1968.
In 1981, Goodnight was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.
In 1997, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
In March 2020, Jim Goodnight was awarded a CEO Great Place to Work For All Leadership Award by Great Place to Work.
Goodnight has an interest in improving the state of education, particularly elementary and secondary education.
In 1996, Goodnight and his wife, along with his business partner, John Sall and his wife Ginger, founded an independent prep school Cary Academy. Both of the Goodnights are also involved in the local Cary, NC, community. He owns Prestonwood Country Club and The Umstead Hotel and Spa situated on the edge of the SAS campus.
Goodnight met his wife, Ann, while he was a senior at North Carolina State University and she was attending Meredith College.
They have been married approximately five decades and have three children.
