(J.D. Edwards & Company, Denver, CO, www.jdedwards.com) A developer of multinational, integrated enterprise software for distribution, finance, human resources, manufacturing and supply chain management. Founded in 1977 by Jack Thompson, Dan Gregory, and Ed McVaney (each lent a small portion of their names), this once small company grew to more than 55 offices worldwide, servicing customers in more than 100 countries. In 2003, J.D. Edwards was acquired by PeopleSoft, Inc. Two years later, PeopleSoft was bought by Oracle, which continued to feature the J.D. Edwards software family in its product line.