Jim McKelvey

James Morgan McKelvey Jr. (born

Early life James Morgan McKelvey Jr. was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and is an alumnus of Ladue Horton Watkins High School. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor's in economics and computer science, McKelvey worked as a contractor for IBM in Los Angeles and in St. Louis. At the same time, he worked as a glassblowing instructor and founded Disconcepts, a CD-cabinet manufacturer. who would later rise to prominence as the co-founder of Twitter.

Block, Inc. (formerly known as Square, Inc.)

In 2009, McKelvey co-founded Square with Jack Dorsey. Professor Robert Morley made valuable early contributions to the hardware used by Square in 2009. In 2011, the iconic card reader design was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art. McKelvey served as Square's chairman until 2010. as of , McKelvey sits on the board of directors at Block, Inc.

Invisibly In June 2016, McKelvey founded Invisibly, a company seeking to allow consumers to profit from their online data.

The Federal Reserve In 2017, McKelvey was appointed as an Independent Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In January 2022, McKelvey was named as chair.

Downtown North

Since 2019, McKelvey and real estate partner John Berglund have worked through The StarWood Group on the development of Downtown North, a neighborhood in St. Louis.

Non-profit work LaunchCode In September 2013, McKelvey co-founded LaunchCode, a non-profit organization that aims to grow new talent and create pathways to on-the-job training and employment. LaunchCode partners with companies to set up paid apprenticeships in technology for talented people who lack the traditional credentials to land a quality, high-paying job. In 2014, LaunchCode was named "The Best Thing to Happen to St. Louis" by the St. Louis Riverfront Times. In February 2019, LaunchCode received a $300,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to support education programming.

Philanthropy In 2016, McKelvey donated $15 million to the Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science to build a new computer science and engineering building named after his father.

Works