David Duffield
David Duffield | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 21, 1940 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, software executive |
| Known for | Co-founder and chairman of PeopleSoft; co-founder and CEO emeritus of Workday, Inc.; founder of Ridgeline, Inc. |
David Arthur Duffield (born September 21, 1940) is an American billionaire and entrepreneur prominent in the software industry. He co-established and chaired PeopleSoft and is also the co-founder and CEO emeritus of Workday, Inc., both publicly traded enterprise software firms founded after he reached 40 years of age. Additionally, he is the founder and co-leader of Ridgeline, Inc. Duffield has been a recurring figure on the Forbes World's Richest People rankings for many years.
His philanthropic contributions exceed $303 million toward companion animal welfare, over $145 million to Cornell University, upwards of $100 million to various other educational organizations, $13 million supporting local first responders and community initiatives, and $2.1 million dedicated to veterans’ programs. These charitable activities are overseen by the Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation, which is developing Liberty Dogs—a 27-acre service dog training facility in Reno, Nevada—focused on pairing disabled veterans with trained canine partners.
Early life
Duffield was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. His mother worked as an elementary school teacher while his father was an engineer who did not attend college. He completed his elementary education at Ho-Ho-Kus in 1954 and graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1958, where he served as co-captain of the baseball team.
He obtained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering along with an MBA from Cornell University, where he participated in baseball and was involved with a band. He is a significant donor to Cornell’s Duffield Hall, a facility dedicated to nanoscale science and engineering. During his time at Cornell, Duffield was affiliated with the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Career
Duffield began his professional journey in 1964 as a marketing representative and systems engineer at IBM. He later left to establish Information Associates, a company that developed software for scheduling university examinations. In 1972, he founded Integral Systems, which specialized in human resources management solutions tailored for higher education institutions such as Stanford University. By 1979, he launched Business Software Corporation to provide real-time HR and payroll software for commercial businesses. Duffield departed Integral Systems in 1987.
PeopleSoft
In 1987, Duffield founded PeopleSoft, taking on roles as CEO and chairman. The company grew to become the world’s second-largest application software provider before being acquired by Oracle in January 2005 for $10.7 billion in cash.
Workday
In March 2005, together with former PeopleSoft executive Aneel Bhusri, Duffield co-founded Workday, Inc., offering financial management, human capital management, and planning software through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Based in Pleasanton, California, Workday employs more than 17,500 individuals. Duffield was known as the chief advocate for both customers and employees within the company. He stepped down from his co-CEO position in May 2014 to assume the role of board chairman, resigned as chairman in April 2021, and was subsequently honored with the titles chairman emeritus and CEO emeritus.
Ridgeline
Duffield established his sixth company, Ridgeline, in 2017. Headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, Ridgeline operates as an industry cloud software platform concentrating on investment management solutions. This emerging enterprise has approximately 400 employees distributed across offices located in Incline Village, Reno, New York City, and San Ramon, California.
Cornell University
The Duffield family has contributed in excess of $145 million to Cornell University, the alma mater of Dave Duffield. In January 1997, they donated $20 million to advance interdisciplinary engineering education and research, resulting in the Engineering building being renamed “Duffield Hall.”
In July 2020, they provided $5 million to create the Duffield Family Cornell Promise Scholarship, marking the largest donation to the Cornell Promise Initiative aimed at assisting students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early in 2022, a commitment of $12.1 million was made to establish the Duffield Institute for Animal Behavior within Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Additionally, in 2024, Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program was awarded a $4.6 million grant from the Duffield Foundation.
Looking ahead to 2025, the Duffields pledged $100 million for the expansion of Duffield Hall and refurbishment of Phillips Hall, which houses the Electrical and Computer Engineering departments.
Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, the Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation supports a variety of causes including animal welfare organizations, pet shelters, local educational institutions, and community groups such as parks and the North Lake Tahoe Boys and Girls Club.
In response to COVID-19 in April 2020, the foundation allocated $350,000 to Incline Village Community Hospital for relief efforts. After the 2021 Lake Tahoe wildfires, it distributed $4 million among more than 30 charities, with $2 million directed to the Red Cross. Furthermore, it committed $10.6 million toward schools located in Hohokus, New Jersey, where Duffield grew up.
Dave Duffield also personally established and contributed $25 million to the Lake Tahoe School.
Maddie's Fund
In 1994, Dave and Cheryl Duffield founded Maddie's Fund with an initial endowment of $200 million aimed at fostering innovation and cooperation within animal welfare. The fund is named after their Miniature Schnauzer, Maddie, who inspired their philanthropic vision centered on enhancing animal well-being. By 2024, Maddie's Fund shifted its strategy toward supporting multi-location initiatives by awarding grants ranging from $200,000 to $1.5 million. Amy Zeifang, one of Duffield's daughters, currently serves as chairperson of this $260 million foundation.
Political activity
David and Cheryl Duffield contributed a total of $1.2 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2020.
Awards
- 1996 – Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year
- 1998 – Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
- 2013 – EY Entrepreneur of the Year
- 2018 – Distinguished Alumni Award from Cornell Engineering
Personal life
David Duffield is married to Cheryl Duffield. The couple resided in Alamo, California between 2005 and 2016 before relocating near Lake Tahoe. Together they have a blended family consisting of ten children: three from David’s previous marriage and seven adopted jointly.