Jane Helwig
Jane T. Helwig was a computer programmer and cofounder of SAS Institute, which develops and distributes the SAS software suite.
Biography
Early life and education
Jane T. Helwig was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on August 27, 1947. She has a brother, Stephen Davis Timberlake V. She graduated from Stuart Hall School in Staunton, Virginia. She received a BS in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970, and an MD cum laude in 1992.SAS Institute
Helwig co-founded SAS Institute with James Goodnight, John Sall and Anthony James Barr in 1976. At this point, Helwig was the technical writer for the group. The company develops the SAS System of software, which is used for data management, analytics and machine learning.Goodnight and Barr had originally developed SAS as a research project at NCSU, but it quickly evolved into a larger business. They obtained the rights to the software system from NCSU and incorporated SAS Institute as a private company in 1976. SAS moved into a temporary office near campus before moving to the company's permanent headquarters. Helwig is credited with selecting the location of SAS' eventual headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. Helwig and the other founders used side income from consulting to cover the company's expenses during its first year of operation; it would go on to have a global revenue of $3.2 billion in 2021.
During the early days of SAS, the founders worked to create a corporate culture that was less bureaucratic and more flexible. The company implemented subsidized on-site childcare to make it easier for employees to raise children while working at SAS. This policy was partly inspired by Helwig, who was raising young children while acting as vice president.