WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be his secretary of Interior, he announced Thursday evening at a gala.
Trump teased the pick during a speech at Mar-a-Lago during an America First Policy Institute dinner, where he said he’d be appointing Burgum on Friday to a “very big position.” Moments later, Trump decided to let the news slip early, telling the crowd that he’s picked Burgum to lead the Department of Interior.
Burgum, a 68-year-old wealthy software executive, ran unsuccessfully against Trump for the Republican nomination last year, failing to generate much buzz and dropping out last December before voting got underway.
But he drew immediate interest from Trump, who appreciated Burgum’s focus on fossil fuels and energy issues and his command on television. The Trump campaign increasingly dispatched Burgum to campaign rallies as a go-to speaker to tout a second Trump presidency and attack outgoing President Joe Biden. Burgum had been speculated as a possible contender for secretary of the Energy Department, which remains unfilled.
The Interior Department oversees federal land including national parks and monuments, and administers programs and federal commitments involving native tribes. North Dakota is home to five federally recognized native tribes.
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As governor, Burgum took steps to improve relations with the state’s native tribes. That includes signing legislation codifying the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to give preference to Native American families in the adoption of native children.
On the campaign trail, Trump has talked about unleashing unappropriated lands for fossil fuel development.
Environmentalists quickly slammed Trump’s pick. “Burgum will be a disastrous Secretary of the Interior who’ll sacrifice our public lands and endangered wildlife on the altar of the fossil fuel industry’s profits,” Kierán Suckling, executive director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Known as an independent-minded Republican for much of his tenure as governor, Burgum has since embraced Trump’s hardline rhetoric and MAGA Republicanism. Trump included Burgum on his final short list as vice president before picking JD Vance.
Burgum’s second term as governor ends next month when Gov.-elect Kelly Armstrong, a GOP congressman, is sworn in.
Born and raised in the tiny farm town of Arthur, North Dakota, with a population of 328, Burgum in 1983 mortgaged farmland he inherited from his family to invest in Fargo-based Great Plains Software. He became the company’s president the next year, and by 2001 sold the company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. At Microsoft, Burgum worked as senior vice president through 2007.
Today, Burgum has a net worth of more than $100 million, according to Forbes magazine. Burgum is the founder of Kilbourne Group, a Fargo-based real estate firm, and is co-founder of Arthur Ventures, a software venture capital firm based in Minneapolis. He is also board chairman of Atlassian and SuccessFactors.
Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter @joeygarrison.
