How Jack built the fortune
Jack Dangermond built his wealth by turning maps into software. In 1969 he and his wife, Laura, used personal savings to start the Environmental Systems Research Institute, now known simply as Esri, in Redlands, California. At first it was a small consultancy that helped planners and agencies analyse land use with early computers. Over time the projects led to tools that could be sold as products.
The breakthrough came in the 1980s with ARC/INFO, a program that linked map features to tables of data so that users could ask questions about places, such as which parcels lay in a flood zone or where new roads should run. That approach became the foundation of geographic information systems, or GIS. Esri later released ArcView for desktop computers and then the ArcGIS family of products, which now runs on desktops, servers, mobile devices and in the cloud.
GIS software is used by governments, utilities, armed forces, retailers, transport companies, environmental groups and universities around the world. Esri has become the dominant supplier in this field. Because the Dangermonds never took outside investors or listed the company, its long record of growth has accrued to them almost entirely.
Esri's revenue comes from software licences, subscriptions and services, and the company has long reinvested a large share of it in research and development. Dangermond has kept prices and policies favourable to schools and nonprofits, which helped make Esri's tools the standard taught in university geography and planning programmes and created a pipeline of trained users for its commercial products.
Companies and holdings
Esri remains headquartered in Redlands, where it occupies a large campus, and has offices and distributors in many countries. Its main products and services include:
- ArcGIS desktop, server and online platforms
- Location data and base maps used by apps and organisations
- Industry solutions for local government, utilities, defence and business
- Training, conferences and education programmes
The company's annual user conference in San Diego is one of the largest gatherings of mapping professionals in the world. Dangermond serves as president, and he has said he intends Esri to stay private and independent rather than be sold or listed. The company funds its research and development from its own revenue.
Early life and career
Dangermond was born in 1945 in Redlands, the son of Dutch immigrants who ran a plant nursery in the town. He grew up working in the family business, an experience he has said gave him a lifelong interest in landscapes and the environment.
He studied landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, then completed a master's degree in urban planning at the University of Minnesota and a master's degree in landscape architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. At Harvard he worked at the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis, one of the first places where researchers experimented with using computers to draw and analyse maps. That work showed him how computing could support planning decisions, and he returned to Redlands to apply it commercially.
He has remained closely involved in Esri's technical direction for more than five decades and is often described in the industry as a central figure in the development of GIS.
Laura Dangermond has been his business partner since the founding and has played a central role in running the company's operations and culture. The couple have kept Esri's headquarters in the town where Jack grew up, making it one of the largest employers in the Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles.
Philanthropy and public life
The Dangermonds are major supporters of conservation. In 2017 they gave a gift of about 165 million dollars to The Nature Conservancy to buy a large ranch around Point Conception on the California coast, which became the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. The site protects a stretch of coastline and habitat that had faced development pressure, and it is used for research on climate and ecology.
They have also supported education in geography and science, including programmes that give schools free access to mapping software. Dangermond frequently speaks about using GIS to address environmental and social problems, and he has argued that better maps lead to better decisions by governments and communities.