Greg Gianforte

Trustee

Greg Gianforte and his wife Susan were married in 1988 and have called Bozeman home since 1995. They are parents to three boys and a girl whom they raised in Montana. Greg is a serial entrepreneur and active mentor of Montana entrepreneurs, with a focus on job creation in Montana.

Greg founded RightNow Technologies in Bozeman in 1997, which grew to more than 1,100 employees worldwide. RightNow was the largest commercial employer in Bozeman and the only publicly traded technology company headquartered in Montana before being purchased by Oracle in 2012.

Currently Greg spends his time mentoring Montana entrepreneurs, doing philanthropic work through the Foundation, and serving on various local and national for-profit and not-for-profit boards. He also is an avid sportsman and loves to cook.

Susan Gianforte

Trustee

Susan Gianforte is the daughter of German immigrants to New York City, where she was born and raised by her widowed mother.  She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from NYU, the last of which she earned while working for Bell Laboratories.

Susan resigned as senior manager from NNC/KPMG in 1993 after their third child was born and started helping Greg in his new entrepreneurial efforts following the sale of his first start-up, Brightwork.  Greg and Susan moved their family to Bozeman, Montana in 1995 and had their fourth child.  After running operations in a number of Greg’s smaller startups, she was controller for the first two years of RightNow Technologies.

Currently, Susan manages the finances of their family foundation and other family entities, and works with Greg.

Richard Gianforte

Trustee

Richard Gianforte grew up in Bozeman, MT as the oldest child of Susan and Greg.  After graduating high school at Petra Academy, he went to Caltech and received a double major in Computer Science and Business.

Richard currently works in Seattle at Microsoft as a Program Manager.  His team protects Microsoft users from their accounts being compromised.  Richard enjoys a wide variety of sports and outdoor activities including ultimate frisbee and backpacking.  He and his wife Krissy enjoy taking their dog out whenever possible.

David Gianforte

As the second son of Susan and Greg, David graduated from Montana State University in Computer Science in 2013 and currently works in Bozeman for Workiva as a software engineer.

Adam Gianforte

Adam is the third son of Greg and Susan. He grew up in Montana before studying Linguistics at Cornell University, a degree which he hopes to put to use doing speech therapy one day. He currently lives in Chicago and attends Missio Dei Uptown Church. He enjoys acting, music making, unicycling, climbing, and talking about Jesus. He is particularly passionate about the foundation’s support of organizations that help the homeless and at-risk youth.

Rachel Gianforte

Rachel Gianforte was born and grew up in Bozeman, MT. She enjoys a mix of active and more relaxing activities ranging from ultimate frisbee, backpacking, and horseback riding to reading, quilting, and baking. Her entire elementary and secondary school career was spent at Petra Academy. She is currently a junior at Stanford majoring in Architecture and minoring in computer science and education. She plays on the women’s ultimate frisbee team and runs the club sports program. After graduating she plans to become a high school teacher.

Catherine Koenen

Executive Director

Catherine grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and moved to Bozeman in 1998 to study at Montana State University, where she earned her master’s degree in architecture in 2003.  After college she worked in land use planning for several years before taking time off to stay home with her children.  In 2013 she began working for the Gianforte Family Foundation and has enjoyed it ever since.  In addition to her foundation work, Catherine stays busy managing her household and spending time with her husband and four children.