John Sall

John Sall was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1948.{{cite news |last=Lai |first=Eric |date=September 18, 2009 |title=Billionaire SAS co-founder keeps on Coding |url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138264/Billionaire_SAS_co_founder_keeps_on_coding |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |newspaper=Computerworld |archive-date=February 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130223170644/http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138264/Billionaire_SAS_co_founder_keeps_on_coding |url-status=dead }} As a child, he developed an interest in science.{{Cite web |last=Vellanki |first=Bhamini |date=2020-07-27 |title=Leadership Profile: John P. Sall, Founder of SAS Institute |url=https://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/leadership-profile-john-p-sall-founder-of-sas-institute/ |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University |language=en-US}}

He received a bachelor's degree in history from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. Sall felt he graduated into a weak job market, so he went to graduate school at Northern Illinois University, where he earned a master's degree in economics. It was at graduate school that Sall became interested in statistics and computer science.{{cite news |last=Ohri |first=Ajay |date=July 28, 2000 |title=Interview John Sall Founder JMP/SAS Institute |url=http://www.decisionstats.com/interview-john-sall-jmp/ |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |publisher=DecisionStats}} He went on to study graduate-level statistics at North Carolina State University, where he received an honorary doctorate in 2003.{{cite web |title=John Sall profile |url=http://www.ncsu.edu/about-nc-state/university-administration/board-of-trustees/ |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |publisher=North Carolina State University Board of Trustees}}{{cite web |archive-date=December 5, 2012 |title=John Sall Biography |publisher=Northern Illinois University |date=2010 |url=http://www.niu.edu/clas/awards/awards_2010/honorees/sall.shtml |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205173316/http://www.niu.edu/clas/awards/awards_2010/honorees/sall.shtml}}{{cite web |title=Official SAS Biography |url=http://www.sas.com/company/about/bios/jsall.html |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |publisher=SAS Institute}} He received an honorary doctorate from NIU in 2014.{{Cite web |title=NIU Today - Co-founder of SAS Institute to receive honorary NIU doctorate |url=https://niutoday.info/2014/05/05/co-founder-of-sas-institute-to-receive-honorary-niu-doctorate/ |access-date=2024-09-26 |website=NIU Today |language=en-US}}

{{Main|SAS Institute|SAS (software)}}

Sall collaborated with James Goodnight at North Carolina State University.{{cite web |date=September 20, 2007 |title=Forbes profile |url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_John-Sall_0VOP.html |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |work=Forbes}}{{cite web |title=Official JMP biography |url=http://www.jmp.com/about/johnsall.shtml |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |publisher=JMP}} In 1976, the two co-founded SAS Institute, an analytics software company, with fellow NCSU alumni Anthony James Barr and Jane Helwig.

The company is best known for developing the SAS suite of analytics and data management software. Sall designed, developed, and documented many of the earliest procedures of the SAS language. Some of his contributions included procedures for working with time series, econometrics, categorical data and matrix algebraic manipulations.{{Cite book |last1=Agresti |first1=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPGJUiUCJZkC&q=john+sall+barr+createdhttps%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DkPGJUiUCJZkC&pg=PA177 |title=Strength in Numbers: The Rising of Academic Statistics Departments in the U. S. |last2=Meng |first2=Xiao-Li |date=2012-11-02 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4614-3649-2 |pages=177 |language=en}} SAS software was originally developed to analyze agricultural data,{{cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |date=November 21, 2009 |title=At a Software Powerhouse, the Good Life Is Under Siege |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/business/22sas.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=October 2, 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times}} but its modern applications include machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning, and computer vision.{{Cite web |last=Coletti |first=Claudine |date=March 19, 2019 |title=SAS Announces $1 Billion Investment In AI |url=https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/innovation/technology/sas-announces-1-billion-investment-in-ai |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=Forbes ME |language=en-US}}

SAS Institute grew rapidly,{{cite news |last=Buchanan |first=Leigh |date=September 2011 |title=How SAS Continues to Grow |url=http://www.inc.com/magazine/201109/inc-500-james-goodnight-sas.html |access-date=October 2, 2024 |newspaper=Inc. Magazine}} becoming one of the largest privately held software providers in the world{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Brian |date=September 28, 2023 |title=SAS eliminates more positions this week as part of its 2023 staff reduction plan |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article279892654.html |work=The News & Observer}} and earning $3.2 billion in annual revenue as of 2022.{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Brian |date=September 28, 2023 |title=SAS eliminates more positions this week as part of its 2023 staff reduction plan |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article279892654.html |work=The News & Observer}} In 2021, it was announced that the company was preparing for an initial public offering (IPO).{{Cite news |last1=Hu |first1=Krystal |last2=Mehta |first2=Chavi |date=2021-07-29 |title=Analytics behemoth SAS says aiming to go public by 2024 |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/analytics-firm-sas-says-aiming-go-public-by-2024-2021-07-29/ |access-date=2024-04-14 |work=Reuters |language=en}} During this time, the company has invested heavily into the research and development of artificial intelligence tools designed for industries like finance, healthcare, and insurance.{{Cite web |title=SAS to spend $1 billion on AI as global tech race heats up |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/inno/stories/news/2023/05/09/sas-to-spend-one-billion-global-ai-race-heats-up.html |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}

{{Main|JMP (statistical software)}}

Sall started developing JMP, which originally stood for "John's Macintosh Project", in the 1980s, when the graphical user interface was introduced on the Macintosh. JMP is distributed by JMP Statistical Discovery, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAS.{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.jmp.com/en_us/company/about-us.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216205905/https://www.jmp.com/en_us/company/about-us.html |archive-date=2022-12-16 |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=www.jmp.com |language=en}} Sall and a small team of developers spent a year and a half working on JMP before version one was released in October 1989.{{cite news |last=Sall |first=John |date=October 5, 2009 |title=JMP Is 20 Years Old |url=http://blogs.sas.com/jmp/index.php?/archives/251-JMP-Is-20-Years-Old.html |publisher=SAS Blogs}} Sall continued to do coding and product development for JMP software for more than 20 years, supporting Windows 3.1, writing the product in different implementation languages, re-writing the product's "nervous system" and improving the JMP scripting language. Today Sall still acts as JMP's chief architect.

He also co-authored the book JMP Start Statistics with Ann Lehman and Lee Creighton.{{cite book |last1=Sall |first1=John |title=JMP Start Statistics: A Guide to Statistics and Data Analysis Using JMP |last2=Creighton |first2=Lee |last3=Lehman |first3=Ann |publisher=SAS Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1599945729}}

Sall lives in Cary, North Carolina. He is married to Ginger Sall, with whom he has four children.

Sall was elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1998 and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2015,{{Cite web |date=2015-01-01 |title=People News for January {{!}} Amstat News |url=https://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2015/01/01/people-news-for-january/ |access-date=2024-09-26 |language=en-US}} he is also a member of the North Carolina State University board of trustees. In 1994, he served as chairman of the Interface Foundation of North America.{{cite web |title=Businessweek profile |url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=6014092&privcapId=102594&previousCapId=29096&previousTitle=GOOGLE%20INC-CL%20A |accessdate=December 15, 2011 |publisher=Businessweek}}{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from North Carolina State University's College of Sciences in 2017.{{Cite web |title=2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award: John Sall |url=https://sciences.ncsu.edu/news/2017-distinguished-alumnus-award-john-sall/ |access-date=2024-09-26 |website=College of Sciences |language=en-US}}

Sall owns about one-third of SAS Institute, while Goodnight owns the remainder.  According to Forbes, Sall's net worth was approximately $4.2 billion as of 2016, making him the 392nd richest person in the United States at the time. As of 2009, most of Sall's net worth was illiquid, and based on the estimated worth of his partial ownership in SAS Institute. In 2018,{{cite web |last1=Sall |first1=John |date=15 March 2018 |title=Presentation at Discovery Summit |url=https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discovery-Summit-Europe-2018/Plenary-Session-John-Sall-Projections-and-Encapsulations/ta-p/53175 |accessdate=21 March 2018 |website=JMP.com }} Sall was still working, doing programming, and leading a team of developers.

Sall and his wife are involved in conservation, international health and development, and environmental issues through the Sall Family Foundation.{{cite web |author=Monday |date=May 3, 1962 |title=John Sall - Tech Philanthropists - Donors - Foundations |url=http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/guide-to-individual-donors/john-sall.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140615144332/http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/guide-to-individual-donors/john-sall.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2014 |accessdate=May 10, 2016 |website=Inside Philanthropy }} Sall was on the board of The Nature Conservancy from 2002 to 2011, and is a member of the board for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.{{cite news |title=Forbes profile: John Sall |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/john-sall/ |accessdate=28 June 2020 |newspaper=Forbes}} Sall and his wife also work with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), CARE, Pan American Health Organization, and other non-profits. They contributed to the founding of Cary Academy, an independent college preparatory school for students grades six through 12.

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Category:Living people

Category:1948 births

Category:American billionaires

Category:Beloit College alumni

Category:Businesspeople in software

Category:Businesspeople from North Carolina

Category:21st-century American philanthropists

Category:North Carolina State University alumni

Category:Northern Illinois University alumni

Category:People from Cary, North Carolina

Category:People from Rockford, Illinois

Category:Fellows of the American Statistical Association

Category:Mathematicians from Illinois