Jimmy Donal

Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama. He attended a small private school, a university preparatory school, and then earned bachelor's and master's degrees in finance. While in graduate school, he taught at two universities. Wales later took a job in finance, and worked as the research director of a Chicago futures and options firm for several years. In 1996, he and two partners founded Bomis, a web portal that targeted males, and which hosted, and provided the initial funding for, the peer-reviewed encyclopedia Nupedia (2000 – 2003) and for its successor, Wikipedia.

In 2001, together with Larry Sanger and others, Wales helped launch Wikipedia, a free, open-content encyclopedia which subsequently enjoyed rapid growth and popularity. As Wikipedia's public profile grew, Wales became the project's promoter and spokesman. Wales has been cited as the co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed that designation: Wales has said that he was the sole founder of the encyclopedia. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit charitable organization which operates Wikipedia. He holds its board-appointed "community founder" seat. In 2004, he co-founded Wikia, a privately-owned, free Web-hosting service, with fellow Wikimedia trustee Angela Beesley.

Wales has been married twice and has a daughter with Christine, his second wife, from whom he is separated. He describes himself as an Objectivist and, with reservations, a libertarian. His role in creating Wikipedia, which has become the world's largest encyclopedia, prompted Time magazine to name him in its 2006 list of the world's most influential people. Wales is the de facto leader of Wikipedia; his exact position on the project is a matter of public and press debate.