Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (/ˈdoʊnəl ˈweɪlz/; born August 7, 1966^[3]) is an American-born British Internet entrepreneur. He is one of the people who started Wikipedia and Fandom (previously Wikia)..^[4][5]

Jimmy Wales
Wales in November 2024
Born	Jimmy Donal Wales (1966-08-07) August 7, 1966 (age 58) Huntsville, Alabama, USA
Other names	Jimbo (screen name)[1]
Education	Auburn University (BS) University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (MS) Indiana University, Bloomington
Occupations	Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, financial trader (formerly)
Title	President of Fandom, Inc. (2004–present) Chair of Wikimedia Foundation (2003–2006) Chair emeritus of Wikimedia Foundation (2006–present)
Successor	Florence Devouard (as Chair of Wikimedia Foundation)
Board member of	Wikimedia Foundation Creative Commons Sunlight Foundation (advisory board) (until September 2020) MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (advisory board) Guardian Media Group (until April 2017)[2]
Spouse(s)	Pamela Green ​ ​ (m. 1986; div. 1993)​ Christine Rohan ​ ​ (m. 1997; div. 2011)​ Kate Garvey ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	3 daughters
Awards	See below[broken anchor]
Website	jimmywales.com
Signature

Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. There, he went to Randolph School. He then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance. In 1996, he and two partners started Bomis. Bomis was an Internet portal with entertainment and adult content. The company gave money for Nupedia (2000–2003) and, after that, Wikipedia.

Personal life

Jimmy Wales with his second wife Christine

Wales has been married three times. He also has three children.^[6][7] When he was 20, Wales married Pam.^[7] Pam was a worker at a store in Alabama.^[7] He met his second wife, Christine Rohan, through a friend in Chicago.^[6] They had a daughter before their marriage ended. Wales moved to San Diego in 1998.

In 2002, he moved again to Florida.^[8] In 2007, he still lived there.^[9] As of 2012 he lives in London, England.^[10] In 2012, Wales married Kate Garvey, a government worker for Tony Blair.^[11] Wales has three daughters: one with Rohan and two with Garvey.^[12]

Wales says that he follows the ideas of Objectivism. He also says that he is a libertarian to some extent, meaning that he thinks people should be allowed to do whatever they want so long as they do not hurt others.

Career

On January 15, 2001, with Larry Sanger and others, Wales started Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free, open content encyclopedia. It grew and became popular very quickly. As Wikipedia became known to the public, he became the project’s promoter and spokesperson. He is often called a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has argued against the "co-" part. He said he was the only founder.^[13][14]

Wales is on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2004, he co-founded Wikia, a wiki-hosting service which tries to make money. In 2015, Wales started the Jimmy Wales Foundation for freedom of expression, to try to help bloggers or internet activists who are in prison.^[15]