Jim McKelvey
Born 1965 · Age 60
American entrepreneur, inventor, glass artist and philanthropist; co‑founder of Square (now Block, Inc.), founder of Third Degree Glass Factory, LaunchCode and Invisibly; Board member / Chair at the St. Louis Federal Reserve; major donor to Washington University.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in St. Louis, Missouri
James Morgan McKelvey Jr. was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.
Published The Debugger's Handbook (UCSD & Apple Pascal)
Authored and published a handbook on UCSD Pascal and Apple Pascal (The Debugger's Handbook).
Graduated Washington University (AB & BS)
Earned a bachelor's in economics and a bachelor's in computer science from Washington University in St. Louis (AB '87, BS '87).
Worked as IBM contractor (Los Angeles & St. Louis)
After graduating, worked as a contractor for IBM in Los Angeles and in St. Louis.
Founded Disconcepts (CD-cabinet manufacturer)
Started Disconcepts, a CD-cabinet manufacturing company while working as a glassblowing instructor and contractor.
Co-founded Mira (Mira Conference Inc.) in St. Louis
With a team of Washington University engineers established Mira; inaugural product was a commercial document imaging system.
Mira inaugural product developed (early contributor: Jack Dorsey as intern)
Mira's inaugural document imaging product was partly developed with contributions from a summer intern, Jack Dorsey (per sources about early Mira work).
Met Doug Auer after glassblowing demo at WUSTL
After giving a glassblowing demonstration at Washington University, McKelvey met Doug Auer — a connection that led to a future studio.
Co-founded Third Degree Glass Factory
Co-founded Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis with Doug Auer — a glass art studio, gallery and event space.
Published The Art of Fire: Beginning Glassblowing
Authored 'The Art Of Fire: Beginning Glassblowing' published by Third Degree Glass Factory.
Co-founded Square (now Block, Inc.) with Jack Dorsey
Co‑founded Square in 2009 to enable merchants to take card payments via mobile devices.
Early Square hardware contributions (professor Robert Morley)
Professor Robert Morley made valuable early contributions to Square's hardware in the founding year.
Built Square prototype at TechShop (prototype creation)
McKelvey created an early prototype of Square's credit-card device at TechShop (reported in press about Square's origins).
Stepped down as Square chairman
McKelvey had served as Square's chairman until 2010 (stepped down from that role around 2010).
Square's iconic card reader inducted into MoMA
The original Square card reader design was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)'s collection/exhibit.
Third Degree Glass Factory 9-year celebration
Third Degree celebrated nine years as a glass-blowing school and community space (press coverage in Oct 2011).
Named a Distinguished Ladue Alumni (award listing)
Listed among distinguished alumni for Ladue Horton Watkins High School's 2012 awards presentation (coverage Jun 2012).
Announced SixThirty accelerator (financial-services/fintech accelerator)
McKelvey launched plans for SixThirty, a fintech/financial-services accelerator (press coverage in March 2013 said it would launch that fall).
Co-founded LaunchCode (nonprofit tech apprenticeship)
Co-founded LaunchCode to create paid apprenticeships and pathways into technology careers for nontraditional talent.
LaunchCode named 'Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis'
The St. Louis Riverfront Times named LaunchCode 'The Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis' in 2014.
Public speaking engagement: SourceMedia (positive review)
Spoke at SourceMedia (review of his talk published May 5, 2014 referencing his speaking activity and reach); included here as evidence of active speaking engagements in the period.
Founded Invisibly (data / consumer-content startup)
Launched Invisibly in June 2016 — a company designed to help consumers profit from their online data and transform digital content economics.
Donated $15M to Washington University engineering (named building for his father)
Committed $15 million to Washington University School of Engineering & Applied Science to build a new CS/engineering building named for his father (announced Oct 2016 coverage).
Appointed Independent Director, St. Louis Federal Reserve
Appointed an independent director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (announced Dec 2016 / effective Jan 2017).
Square announced new card technology and planned 300 St. Louis hires
Covered in press Oct 18, 2018: Square (with Jack Dorsey and McKelvey) announced new credit-card technology and planned to hire ~300 jobs in St. Louis.
Began Downtown North / Urban Insight District work with John Berglund (Starwood Group)
Since 2019 McKelvey and business partner John Berglund (Starwood Group) have been instrumental in building 'Downtown North', an Urban Insight District in St. Louis.
LaunchCode received $300,000 grant from Kauffman Foundation
In February 2019 LaunchCode received a $300,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to support education programming.
Announced $30M McKelvey Engineering Challenge (matching pledge)
The McKelveys' commitment included establishing a $30 million challenge/matching initiative (Computing + X component) for Washington University engineering.
WashU engineering school renamed McKelvey School of Engineering (ceremony)
During a ceremony on January 31, 2019, Washington University's engineering school was renamed the James McKelvey School of Engineering following the McKelveys' transformative gift.
Published The Innovation Stack (book)
Published 'The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time' (Penguin, 2020) reflecting on Square and entrepreneurship.
Public interviews and features about Square and entrepreneurship
Participated in interviews and public radio features reflecting on Square's history and entrepreneurial lessons (press through 2020-2021).
Named Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Board
In January 2022 McKelvey was designated Chair of the Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Listed as Board Member of Block, Inc.
As of mid‑2023 McKelvey sits on the Board of Directors at Block, Inc. (formerly Square).
Net worth estimated at US$2 billion
Forbes estimated Jim McKelvey's net worth at approximately US$2.0 billion (July 2023).
Ongoing speaking engagements and keynote appearances
Active as a keynote speaker on innovation, entrepreneurship and fintech (profiles and bookings listed on speaker bureau sites; sample engagements include SAP 2015 and other conferences).
Speaker bureau profile updated (AAE Speakers)
AAE Speakers Bureau profile indicates speaking fee ranges and lists engagements and topics (profile metadata updated March 19, 2025 on the AAE page).
C-SPAN appearances (recorded in public archives)
McKelvey has multiple recorded appearances on C-SPAN (dates vary); indicates ongoing public speaking and policy engagement.
Key Achievement Ages
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