David Jorgensen Shares His Success at Katun Corporation

The Enron scandal and the mortgage meltdown taught us all enough about corporate greed to last a lifetime. But as they say, every pancake has two sides. What about business wealth that finds its way to those in need and to organizations that strive to make the world a better place? David Jorgensen made his fortune co-founding and building Katun Corporation. The business offers aftermarket office-imaging parts and supplies in the United States and Europe. With his partner, David Jorgensen built Katun from a startup to a thriving business with annual sales of $350 million, selling to private-equity investors in 2002.

Perhaps because he grew up in modest circumstances, Mr. Jorgensen felt a responsibility to use his wealth to make a difference. Holding Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering, earning an M.B.A. from the University of Washington, and completing coursework for a Ph.D., he clearly values education. He also appreciates the contribution of culture to a society and believes in a free market and critical thinking. Once he retired, the entrepreneur created the David and Annette Jorgensen Foundation to support those and other causes. The foundation has donated to schools, the Wikimedia Foundation, the Matrix Parent Network and Resource Center, several Bay Area museums, and medical research at the University of California, San Francisco.

In efforts to ensure a free market and society in which the populace analyzes information before accepting it as fact, David and Annette Jorgensen’s foundation supports think tanks and other organizations promoting a free society, including the David Horowitz Freedom Center, the Institute for Justice, the Center for Independent Thought, and the Cato Institute. The President of his own foundation, David Jorgensen also serves as Vice Chairman of the Free to Choose Network, which espouses his philosophy on a free market and an informed public.