Jim McKelvey

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. is an American billionaire businessman, who is the co-founder of Block, Inc. McKelvey was appointed as an independent director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in January 2017.[1] As of November 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$4 billion.[2]

Jim McKelvey
Born
James Morgan McKelvey Jr.

St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis
OccupationDirector of Block, Inc.

Early life

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and is an alumnus of Ladue Horton Watkins High School.[3] He wrote and published a Handbook on UCSD Pascal and Apple Pascal in 1986.[4] After graduation from Washington University in St. Louis, McKelvey worked as a contractor for IBM in Los Angeles and in St. Louis.[5] At the same time, he had jobs as a glassblowing instructor and founded Disconcepts, a CD cabinet manufacturing company.[5]

Career

Third Degree Glass Factory

In 2000, after giving a glassblowing demonstration at WUSTL, McKelvey met Doug Auer. In 2002 they founded Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis, a glass art studio and gallery which also provides space for private events.[6][7] He talks about this extensively in the Shaping Business Minds Through Art podcast.[8]

Block, Inc. (formerly known as Square, Inc.)

In 2009, McKelvey co-founded Square with Jack Dorsey.[9][10][11] Professor Robert Morley designed the hardware used by Square in 2009, while McKelvey and Jack Dorsey later created a separate entity leaving Morley out of this entity's ownership. McKelvey then served as Square's chairman until 2010.[12] As of September 2022, McKelvey sits on the Board of Directors at Block, Inc.[13]

Cultivation Capital

In 2012, McKelvey teamed with other St. Louis-based businesspeople to help found Cultivation Capital, a venture capital firm that manages early-stage venture capital funds in software, life sciences, and agtech.[14]

Invisibly

In June 2016, McKelvey founded Invisibly, a company seeking to allow consumers to profit from their online data.[15][16]

The Federal Reserve

In 2017, McKelvey was appointed as an Independent Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.[17]

NoW Innovation District

Since 2019, McKelvey and business partner John Berglund, as StarLake Holdings have been building the NoW Innovation District in downtown St. Louis.

Non-profit work

LaunchCode

In September 2013, McKelvey co-founded LaunchCode, a non-profit organization that aims to grow new talent and create pathways to on-the-job training and employment.[18] LaunchCode partners with companies to set up paid apprenticeships in technology for talented people who lack the traditional credentials to land a quality, high-paying job.[19] In 2014, LaunchCode was named "The Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis" by the St. Louis Riverfront Times.[20] In February 2019, LaunchCode received a $300,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to support education programming.[21]

Philanthropy

In 2016, McKelvey donated $15 million to the Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science to build a new computer science and engineering building named after his father.[22] In 2019, Washington University's engineering school was renamed the McKelvey School of Engineering.[23][24]

Works
  • McKelvey, Jim (2020). The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-593-08674-2.[25][26]
  • McKelvey, James (2006). The Art Of Fire: Beginning Glassblowing. Third Degree Glass Factory. ISBN 0978683102.[27]

References
  1. "St. Louis Fed Announces Changes to Board of Directors". stlouisfed.org. December 12, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  2. "Forbes profile: Jim McKelvey". Forbes. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  3. Dielman, Susan (June 24, 2012). ""Distinguished Ladue Alumni Chosen for 2012 Awards Presentation"". Patch.com. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  4. McKelvey, Jim (1986). The Debugger's Handbook=UCSD and Apple Pascal. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 978-0-534-06432-7.
  5. Kerth, Susan (May 30, 2004). "Entrepreneur-artist Jim McKelvey bankrolls his glass studio with his business savvy". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  6. Mannino, Fran. "Third Degree Glass Factory Celebrates 9 Years". Times Newspapers. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  7. Cudnik, Christian (December 20, 2008). "Glass blowing goes public at Third Degree". news.stlpublicradio.org. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  8. #15 Jim McKelvey. Audacity in Entrepreneurship and Art. - Shaping Business Minds Through Art - The Artian Podcast, retrieved February 26, 2021
  9. Woytus, Amanda (October 18, 2018). "Square's Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey announce new credit card technology, plan to hire for 300 jobs in St. Louis". www.stlmag.com. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  10. Calhoun, Lisa (June 8, 2016). ""Why Square's Co-Founder Says Be Wary of Advice From Successful People"". inc.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  11. Meyerowitz, Robert (March 7, 2011). "Jim McKelvey Has Altered the Way Money Changes Hands. Now What?". www.stlmag.com. stlmag.com.
  12. Pontin, Jason. "The New Money". Technology Review. MIT.
  13. "Board of Directors". Block Inc. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  14. Cultivation Capital plants $100 million St. Louis Business Journal, June 28, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  15. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mckelveyjim
  16. "Client Partner (Sales)". boards.greenhouse.io. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  17. Bhardwaj, Prachi. "How these 23 entrepreneurs became the lesser known co-founders of the biggest tech companies in the world". Business Insider. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  18. Lloyd, Tim (October 21, 2013). "Square founder hopes to turn St. Louis into the Silicon Prairie". Marketplace. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  19. "About - So What is LaunchCode?". LaunchCode. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  20. "Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis St. Louis 2014 - LaunchCode". Riverfront Times. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  21. Collins, Leslie (February 21, 2019). "Kauffman Foundation doubles down on LaunchCode's KC program". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved September 25, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. Ebsworth-Goold, Erika (October 28, 2016). ""New engineering building to be named for school's former dean"". The Source. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  23. "WashU announces donation from Square co-founder to grow engineering school". TechCrunch. January 31, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  24. Barker, Jacob. "Wash U renaming engineering school after Square co-founder Jim McKelvey". stltoday.com. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  25. Fenske, Sarah (March 27, 2020). "Square's Jim McKelvey Explains How To Build A Business, 'One Crazy Idea At A Time'". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  26. Woytus, Amanda (March 9, 2020). "Square co-founder Jim McKelvey details how he changed the payment game and beat Amazon in a new book". St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  27. "Book Review - The Art of Fire - Beginning Glassblowing". Glassblowing.info. June 16, 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
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