Education
Gianforte holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering and an Master of Surgery degree in computer science from in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Gianforte holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering and an Master of Surgery degree in computer science from in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The couple is known for their philanthropy and relationships with various Christian and conservative groups includingFocus on the Family and the Washington, District of Columbia thinktank The Heritage Foundation. Gianforte began his career at American Telephone & Telegraph Company Bell Laboratories and was one of the engineers on American Telephone & Telegraph Company’s StarLAN Network project Gianforte co-founded Brightwork Development, a developer of network management applications.
He sold the business to McAfee Associates in 1994.
Gianforte went on to serve as North American VP, where the company’s North American sales operation grew from $25 million to more than $60 million in revenues in less than a year. Gianforte founded RightNow Technologies in 1997 which went public in 2004 and was sold to Oracle Corporation for $1.5 billion in 2011.
Before the sale, RightNow Technologies employed about 500 people at its headquarters in Bozeman, Montana and over 1000 people in total. and chair of the board at Petra Academy, a Bozeman, Montana Christian school. The choice of Gianforte as the 2014 graduation commencement speaker at Montana Technical, a premier public science and engineering college in Butte, resulted in a protest by students and faculty critical of Gianforte"s Christian faith and his stance on marriage.
On January 20, 2016, Gianforte announced his candidacy for the Republican Party’s nomination for Governor of Montana in 2016.
However, he had a political practices complaint filed against him after he allegedly started campaigning before registering. The complaint was quickly dismissed. Gianforte is running on a platform to create a high wage economy in Montana, which is currently 49th in wages.
The foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to various charities and describes as its primary mission to “support the work of Christian organizations engaged in education, poverty, and outreach work” and “protecting the unborn”.
In 2009, the Gianforte Family Foundation helped fund the $1.5 million creationist dinosaur museum in Glendive, Montana.
Gianforte is a board member of FICO. His Facebook page also mentions that he is "..a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment.".