Doug Burgum: podcast appearances and interviews

Douglas James Burgum, born on August 1, 1956, is an American businessman and politician who has served as the fifty-fifth United States secretary of the interior since 2025 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, Burgum previously served as the governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024. He was born and raised in Arthur, North Dakota, and graduated from North Dakota State University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in university studies. He earned an MBA from Stanford University two years later. In 1983, Burgum mortgaged inherited farmland to invest in Great Plains Software in Fargo, where he became president in 1984. The company went public in 1997 and was sold to Microsoft for 1.1 billion dollars in 2001. During his time at Microsoft, Burgum managed Microsoft Business Solutions. He has also served as board chairman for the Australian software company Atlassian and SuccessFactors. Burgum is the founder of Kilbourne Group, a real-estate development firm based in Fargo, and co-founder of Arthur Ventures, a software venture capital group. His political career includes winning the 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial election by a large margin and being reelected in 2020. In 2023, Burgum launched a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, which he ended in December of that year. Subsequently, he became an advisor on the Trump campaign's energy policy before being nominated and confirmed as secretary of the interior in early 2025. In his role, he has overseen policies promoting fossil fuel extraction and expanded drilling on federal lands.