Jimbo Wales

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Jimbo Wales

Jimbo Wales AKA Jimmy Donal Wales

Born: 8-Aug-1966 [1]
Birthplace: Huntsville, AL

Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Encyclopaedist

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Co-Founder of Wikipedia

Following a brief career as an options trader in Chicago that left him independently wealthy, Wales moved to San Diego in 1996 to form the Internet search engine startup Bomis. In 2000, he and Larry Sanger, an Ohio philosophy student, created Nupedia, a first attempt at an open online encyclopedia. Progress on Nupedia was sluggish, due to preoccupations with scholarly vetting, so in 2001 Wales and Sanger co-founded[2] Wikipedia, a collaborative encyclopedia. Wales is currently based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

[1] According to a comment made by Wales himself on 18 September 2004 to Wikipedia, "My actual birthday is August 7th, 1966. This is unverifiable information, I'm sorry to say, since my driver's license and passport say August 8. If we must revert on that basis, then I guess we must... Maybe I'll have to upload a signed note from my mom as documentary evidence; the only proof that I have is her sayso." Wales' comments have subsequently been deleted by an administrator with "oversight" privilege, to make it appear as though he never said these words. They are however available on early database dumps.

[2] Wikipedia Press release, dated 15 January 2002, stating "The founders of Wikipedia are Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and philosopher Larry Sanger. Wales has supplied the financial backing and other support for the project, and Sanger, who earned a PhD in Philosophy from Ohio State in 2000, has led the project." Since Sanger left the project in 2004, Wales has frequently painted himself as the sole founder of Wikipedia.

Father: Jimmy Don Wales (grocery store manager)
Mother: Doris Ann Dudley (teacher)
Brother: Johnny
Wife: Pam (m. circa 1986, div.)
Wife: Christine Rohan (m. 24-Mar-1997, div., one daughter)
Daughter: Kira
Girlfriend: Rachel Marsden (pundit and public spectacle, together briefly 2008, ex)
Wife: Kate Garvey (m. 6-Oct-2012, one daughter)

High School: Randolph School, Huntsville, AL (1983)
University: BA Finance, Auburn University (1989)
University: MA Finance, University of Alabama
Scholar: Finance, Indiana University

Wikia Co-Founder (2004-)
Creative Commons Board of Directors
Sunlight Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Directors (2003-, as Chairman 2003-06)
Wikipedia Co-Founder (2001-)
World Technology Network
World Economic Forum
EFF Pioneer Award 2006
Objectivists

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Page One: Inside the New York Times (Jan-2011) · Himself

Official Website:
http://www.jimmywales.com/

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