Jim McKelvey

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. (born 1965 or 1966^[1]) is an American billionaire businessman who co-founded Block, Inc. McKelvey was appointed as an independent director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in January 2017.^[2] As of July 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$2 billion.^[3]

Jim McKelvey
Born	James Morgan McKelvey Jr. 1965 or 1966 (age 59–60) St. Louis, Missouri, US
Alma mater	Washington University in St. Louis
Occupation	Director of Block, Inc.

Early life

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and is an alumnus of Ladue Horton Watkins High School.^[4] He wrote and published a handbook on UCSD Pascal and Apple Pascal in 1986.^[5] After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelors in economics and computer science, McKelvey worked as a contractor for IBM in Los Angeles and in St. Louis.^[6] At the same time, he worked as a glassblowing instructor and founded Disconcepts, a CD-cabinet manufacturer.^[6]

Career

Mira Conference Inc.

In 1989, Jim McKelvey and a team of software engineers from Washington University, established Mira in St. Louis. Their inaugural product, a commercial document imaging system, was partly developed by their summer intern Jack Dorsey,^[7] who would later rise to prominence as the co-founder of Twitter.^[7]

Third Degree Glass Factory

In 2000, after giving a glassblowing demonstration at WUSTL, McKelvey met Doug Auer. In 2002 they founded Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis, a glass art studio and gallery which also provides space for private events.^[8][9] He talks about this extensively.

Block, Inc. (formerly known as Square, Inc.)

In 2009, McKelvey co-founded Square with Jack Dorsey.^[10][11][1] Professor Robert Morley made valuable early contributions to the hardware used by Square in 2009.^[12] In 2011, the iconic card reader design was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art.^[13] McKelvey served as Square's chairman until 2010.^[14] as of July 2023^[update], McKelvey sits on the Board of Directors at Block, Inc.^[15]

Invisibly

In June 2016, McKelvey founded Invisibly, a company seeking to allow consumers to profit from their online data.^[16][17]

The Federal Reserve

In 2017, McKelvey was appointed as an Independent Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.^[18] In January 2022, McKelvey was named as Chair.^[19]

Downtown North

Since 2019, McKelvey and business partner John Berglund as Starwood Group have been instrumental in building Downtown North, an Urban Insight District in St. Louis.

Non-profit work

LaunchCode

In September 2013, McKelvey co-founded LaunchCode, a non-profit organization that aims to grow new talent and create pathways to on-the-job training and employment.^[20] LaunchCode partners with companies to set up paid apprenticeships in technology for talented people who lack the traditional credentials to land a quality, high-paying job.^[21] In 2014, LaunchCode was named "The Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis" by the St. Louis Riverfront Times.^[22] In February 2019, LaunchCode received a $300,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to support education programming.^[23]

Philanthropy

In 2016, McKelvey donated $15 million to the Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science to build a new computer science and engineering building named after his father.^[24] In 2019, Washington University's engineering school was renamed the McKelvey School of Engineering.^[25][26]

Works

• McKelvey, Jim (2020). The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-593-08674-2.^[27][28]
• McKelvey, James (2006). The Art Of Fire: Beginning Glassblowing. Third Degree Glass Factory. ISBN 0978683102.^[29]