'A voracious learner,' Burgum's latest startup is himself

Press Release

FARGO--Those who know Doug Burgum from his days at the helm of Great Plains Software know the story about the time he broke eggs on his head.

This happened in the 1990s at one of Great Plains' annual stampedes, events that brought in the business software firm's far-flung partners to learn about the latest updates, a blend of information dissemination and pep rally.

But that year customers weren't happy about a new release riddled with glitches. In his CEO keynote address, Burgum hadn't mentioned the buggy release--until the very end.

"We have raw egg on our face," he said in so many words, then cracked a few on his head, promising the problems would be fixed quickly, and offering refunds for unhappy customers.

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"He's a man of his word," said Michael Olsen, who had been Great Plains' vice president for corporate communications. "Whatever his product is he stands for it and stands by it."

Now, as a candidate for the Republican nomination to be North Dakota's next governor, a pick voters will make in the June 14 primary, Burgum's product is himself.

His transition from business to politics has come with a steep learning curve. Though Burgum has been a longtime Republican who has contributed to candidates, his run for governor is his first attempt at winning office.

Are his business skills transferrable to the governor's office, where the chief executive must find ways to reach agreement with the Legislature?\

"The thing about Doug is he's a voracious learner," driven by a desire to strive for continuous improvement, Olsen said.

On the campaign trail, Burgum has been criticized for what critics--including his chief rival for the GOP nomination, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem--call a lack of authenticity.

For instance, he's endorsed presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. And last week, he criticized Stenehjem for not joining a lawsuit to oppose a federal order requiring schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, though Stenehjem announced Friday, May 28, he will join the lawsuit.

Before announcing he'd run for governor, Burgum was outspoken on some social issues, including marriage equality, which he said would help create a better business climate for the state.

Don Morton, site leader at the Fargo campus of Microsoft, which bought Great Plains for $1.1 billion in 2001, said Burgum hasn't changed. "He has his core values that he will always believe in," he said.

Morton believes the label of Burgum as inauthentic is unfair. "That's politics, and people have to look deeper," he said. "Look at his track record."

More than people realize, Burgum is a caring person, Morton said. He believes it's a desire to see downtown Fargo flourish, not making money, that's driven Burgum's significant investments in developing the city's center--including a $98 million high-rise Burgum's firm will begin building with other partners later this year.

'We,' 'us,' 'our'

Burgum's business biography is by now well-known, highlighted as a central theme of his campaign as an outsider who can shake up state government as North Dakota's economy struggles with low oil and farm prices.

After graduating from North Dakota State University and Stanford's graduate business program, Burgum did a stint in Chicago with McKinsey Co., a leading business consulting firm. But the native of Arthur, N.D., wanted to return to his native state.

The opportunity came along in 1983, when he joined Great Plains as a partner and vice president of marketing. The next year he became president and, with a group of investors, bought a controlling interest in the firm, famously betting his share of the family farm on the venture.

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Great Plains rapidly grew to more than 1,000 employees and occupied a sprawling campus on what then was the edge of south Fargo.

After the 2001 sale, which at the time was Microsoft's largest acquisition, Burgum stayed on as the executive running Microsoft Business Solutions, in essence Great Plains' successor, but frequent travel to headquarters at Redmond, Wash., and elsewhere became burdensome over time, and Burgum left the company in 2007.

Thus began a new chapter in his business career, with a focus on venture capital, technology startups and significant investment in downtown Fargo through his firm, Kilbourne Group, named after his mother's maiden name.

Although Burgum's business achievements by now are familiar to many, his leadership style and mode of management--executive skills important to a governor--are less well known.

Burgum's former colleagues at Great Plains Software and Microsoft said he is a collaborative leader who is comfortable delegating once he's laid out his vision for an initiative.

His approach, Morton said, was "Get the herd headed roughly west. He didn't micromanage."

Burgum trusts his lieutenants and gives them authority, demanding a lot but allowing staff to make mistakes. "He's a great team builder," Morton said. "It's always 'we,' 'us,' 'our.'

Recruiting the right person for the right job and fitting that person into a team is a critical part of the formula, Olsen said.

"It's a collaborative process," he said. "He likes to have smart, ambitious, dedicated, loyal people in the room and help them do their work."

Two women who joined Great Plains in its early days and rose to top executive positions said he had been influenced by a strong female role model--his mother, Katherine Kilbourne Burgum.

"I think he values diversity," said Jodi Uecker, who worked beside Burgum for 20 years and became a corporate vice president at Microsoft. "He believes the best ideas come from different points of view at the table."

Tami Reller, whose last job at Great Plains was chief financial officer and who later led Microsoft's marketing, noted that more than half of Great Plains' workforce was female, far greater than the male-dominated tech-industry average.

"I think it was quite conscious on his part," she said. "He had strong female role models in his life."

Teams met quarterly and annually, where awards and thank-yous were regularly bestowed, Olsen said, helping to foster a culture of shared goals and values.

That approach instilled deep loyalty and helped to make Great Plains a repeat business on Fortune's top 100 companies to work for, Morton said.

Dave O'Hara, now a corporate vice president and chief financial officer at Microsoft, got to know Burgum when Great Plains acquired a partner company he ran in Watertown, S.D.

O'Hara called Burgum a "visionary" who forms deep ties with his colleagues. "He gets to know people really well, what motivates them."

His approach was to set out a goal and ask his lieutenants to help the company achieve it. "It was truly a team effort," O'Hara said. "I always found him to be very open-minded. I would definitely not say he's autocratic."

O'Hara added: "He does have strong opinions," a common trait among CEOs. "He is a consensus builder. He wants to bring everyone along.

"It's harder to do maybe in politics than in business," he added, noting there are "more agendas in politics." "But it's a skill set he has."

'A determined man'

Two former Fargo city leaders, both active Republicans, have publicly endorsed Stenehjem, despite Burgum's active role in revitalizing downtown.

Bruce Furness, former Fargo mayor, said he pledged his support for Stenehjem before he knew Burgum was a candidate. Still, Furness probably would not have switched his support had he known Burgum would run.

"I'm comfortable with Wayne," Furness said, citing Stenehjem's work with the city as attorney general.

Brad Wimmer, a former Fargo city commissioner, expressed similar sentiments. He said Stenehjem's extensive government experience--24 years in the legislature, 16 years as attorney general--make him well-qualified.

"I think it's better to have somebody engrained in the system, and Wayne has been there and done a very good job," Wimmer said. "He knows the system, he knows how to work with the Legislature. He's done that for years."

Burgum argues that voters are ready for a business leader in the governor's office--having done so twice before in recent history, electing Ed Schafer and John Hoeven into office after careers in business.

People understand that the governor's office is the closest role in state government to a CEO, Burgum said. As a Microsoft executive, he had to deal with customers in 130 countries, with multiple time zones and currencies.

North Dakota has "thrived" under earlier businessmen-turned-governors, Burgum said, including Ed Schafer, who ran his family's Gold Seal Co. for a time, and John Hoeven, a former banker.

As for suggestions, by Stenehjem and others, that Burgum as a candidate is not "authentic," Burgum disagrees. "It doesn't really have any traction," he said. "So many people know who I am and what I'm about."

John Hanson, a rancher near Amidon in the Little Missouri Badlands, has known Burgum since both entered NDSU in 1975. Burgum has visited the Hanson family's Logging Camp Ranch many times over the years, often helping during branding.

He called Burgum a competent rider on a well-broken saddle horse, and not someone who "tries to be a cowboy that he's not," but developed over the years into a helpful ranch hand. The two have stayed in touch over the years, and Burgum now owns land near the Hanson family's ranch.

"I have never met anybody who has the same set of qualities that he does," including skills, education, background and physical ability, Hanson said. "He's a determined man."

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