Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur, who is best known for his role in the creation of Wikipedia, a free open content encyclopedia, in 2001. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, holding the board-appointed "community founder" seat, and is a founder of Wikia, a privately owned free web hosting service set up by Wales in 2004.

Together with Nupedia's editor-in-chief, Larry Sanger, Wales created Wikipedia, laying the foundation for its rapid growth and popularity. The success of the project has helped popularize a trend in web development that aims to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. As Wikipedia expanded and its public profile grew, Wales took on the role of the project's spokesperson and promoter through speaking engagements and media appearances. His work with Wikipedia, which has become the world's largest encyclopedia, caused Time magazine to name him to its 2006 list of the world's most influential people. Wales is the current de facto leader of Wikipedia, whose role in the project has gained broad media attention and has led to controversy.