James Goodnight

James Goodnight cofounded the analytics software firm SAS in 1976 with John Sall, whom he met while a PhD student at North Carolina State University.Goodnight has been at the helm since the company's inception, when its software was developed to analyze agricultural data.Its products are now used by more than 83,000 organizations around the world, and 2018 revenue was $3.27 billion.Goodnight and Sall, also a billionaire, founded private school Cary Academy together and co-own a country club and a hotel.