Doug Burgum
Secretary of the Interior
Douglas James Burgum was born in August 1956 in Arthur, North Dakota. He earned an undergraduate degree from North Dakota State University. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He started a chimney-sweep business as an undergrad.
Burgum was a management consultant at a firm in Chicago before helping to launch the accounting software company, Great Plains Software. He became vice president of marketing for the business. He acquired a controlling interest and eventually took the company public. He sold the company in 2001 to Microsoft and became an executive in its business solutions group.
Burgum then co-founded a venture capital company connected to technology and science. He also founded a real-estate development firm.
Burgum was elected governor of North Dakota in 2016. He was reelected in 2020. In 2023, he ran for president rather than seek a third gubernatorial term. He suspended his campaign after failing to qualify for the third debate for the national party rules for donations and polling.
President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior in November 2024. The Senate confirmed him on January 30, 2025, and he was sworn in the following day.
Burgum is married to Kathryn Helgaas. He is divorced from Karen Stoker with whom he has three children.
In the News…
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spoke about the collaboration of his department with DOGE. The secretary described the effort to reorganize and consolidate offices and agencies, including communications, financial management, contracts, grants, civil rights, and technology.
Secretary Burgum stated, “The federal government is like a ranch that, where they threw everything in the barn for 100 years, and great grandpa and grampy never threw anything away, and has accumulated everything and you never had to clean it out, that would be—that’s what the federal government is.“
The security continued, “Typically the federal government would send in a committee of 25 people who pick up one object, spend two weeks talking about, ‘should we get rid of it, what did great grandpa use this for, maybe we should save it, it might be historic.‘ What we’re doing right now is emptying out the barn and deciding what should go back in. And what should go back in is what actually serves the American people.“
Secretary Burgum gave his assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget, the authority to carry out “consolidation, unification and optimization” within the Interior Department, including decisions pertaining to the “transfer of funds, programs, records, and property, as well as taking required personnel actions.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Secretary Burgum today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Doug Burgum
Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
