Jimmy Wales of a Chicago futures and options firm. In 1996, he and two partners founded Bomis, an adult web portal featuring entertainment and adult content. The company would provide the initial funding for the peer-reviewed free encyclopedia, Nupedia (2000–03), and its successor, Wikipedia. On January 15, 2001, with Larry Sanger and others, Wales launched Wikipedia—a free, open content encyclopedia that enjoyed rapid growth and popularity; as Wikipedia's public profile grew, he became the project's promoter and spokesman. He is historically cited as a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed the "co-" designation, declaring himself the sole founder. Wales serves on
Wales Co-operative Centre Business in the Community. He was replaced by Derek Walker, coming from Director of External Affairs at the Big Lottery Fund. In 2015, the Centre begins delivery of the Social Business Wales project which provides online and face-to-face support to social businesses seeking to expand and increase employment. It also wins the contract to deliver Digital Communities Wales the Welsh Government's digital inclusion programme to get people in Wales online. 2016 sees the start of two new projects, Care to Co-operate (which supports the development of social care and well-being co-ops) and Community Shares Wales, which helps communities raise investment