Bill Gates visits New York public school, Morris High School in the Bronx.

William (Bill) H. Gates III
Co-chair

As co-chairs, Bill and Melinda Gates shape and approve foundation strategies, review results, advocate for the foundation’s issues, and help set the overall direction of the organization.

They meet with local, national, and international grantees and partners to further the foundation’s goal of improving equity in the United States and around the world. They also use many public appearances, including speeches, interviews, and articles, to focus attention on these issues.

Bill Gates began his major philanthropic efforts in 1994, when he created the William H. Gates Foundation, which focused on global health. Three years later, he and Melinda created the Gates Library Foundation, which worked to bring public-access computers with Internet connections to public libraries in the U.S. (Its name changed to the Gates Learning Foundation in 1999 to reflect its focus on ensuring that low-income and minority students are prepared for college and have the means to attend.) The two groups merged in 2000 to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates was born in 1955 in Seattle. He is chairman of Microsoft Corporation. (See Microsoft’s Web site for more information on his work with the company.) The Gateses have three children.

Melinda French Gates visits with commercial sex workers in Kolkata, India.

Melinda French Gates
Co-chair

As co-chairs, Bill and Melinda Gates shape and approve foundation strategies, review results, advocate for the foundation’s issues, and help set the overall direction of the organization.

They meet with local, national, and international grantees and partners to further the foundation’s goal of improving equity in the United States and around the world. They also use many public appearances, including speeches, interviews, and articles, to focus attention on these issues.
 
Melinda Gates received a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics from Duke University in 1986 and a master’s in business administration from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1987.
 
After joining Microsoft Corporation in 1987, she distinguished herself in business as a leader in the development of many of Microsoft’s multimedia products. In 1996, Gates retired from her position as Microsoft’s General Manager of Information Products.
 
Since then, she has directed her energy toward the nonprofit world. In addition to her role with the foundation, she is a former member of the board of trustees of Duke University and is a former co-chair of the Washington State Governor’s Commission on Early Learning. 
 
Bill and Melinda Gates live in Medina, Washington, near Seattle. They have three children.

William H. Gates Sr. with Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter at the Zola Clinic in South Africa, holding babies born to HIV positive mothers.

William H. Gates Sr.
Co-chair

William H. Gates Sr. guides the vision and strategic direction of the foundation and serves as an advocate for the foundation’s key issues. He first answered his son's request for help in using his resources to improve reproductive and child health in the developing world by directing the William H. Gates Foundation, which was established in 1994. It merged with the Gates Learning Foundation to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. Gates earned his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Washington, following three years of U.S. Army service in World War II.

A founding partner at Preston Gates & Ellis, Gates has served as president of both the Seattle/King County Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association. He has served as trustee, officer, and volunteer for more than two dozen Northwest organizations, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and King County United Way. In 1995, he founded the Technology Alliance, a cooperative regional effort to expand technology-based employment in Washington. Gates also has been a strong advocate for education for many years, chairing the Seattle Public School Levy Campaign in 1971 and serving as a member of the University of Washington's Board of Regents since 1997.

Gates and his late wife, Mary Maxwell Gates, raised three children: Kristianne, Bill, and Libby. Now married to Mimi Gardner Gates, Gates continues his lifelong commitment to many civic programs, cultural organizations, and business initiatives.

Jeff Raikes at the Gates Foundation Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Jeff Raikes
Chief Executive Officer

Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer, leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. He sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners for all three of our program groups.

Before joining the foundation, Raikes was a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team, which sets overall strategy and direction for the company. Raikes was president of the Microsoft Business Division and oversaw the Information Worker, Server & Tools Business and Microsoft Business Solutions groups. He previously served as group vice president of the Worldwide Sales and Support Group, where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership for Microsoft's sales, marketing, and service initiatives. Before that, he served as senior vice president of Microsoft North America.

Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 as a product manager and was instrumental in driving Microsoft's applications marketing strategy. Promoted to director of applications marketing in 1984, Raikes was the chief strategist behind the company's success in graphical applications for the Apple Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows operating system. Before joining Microsoft, he was a software development manager at Apple Computer Inc.

Raikes, a Nebraska native, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. He is a trustee of the University of Nebraska Foundation and is involved with numerous community activities, focusing on education and children's issues. As part of a community effort to preserve Major League Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, he joined with other Seattle business leaders in 1992 to purchase the Seattle Mariners baseball club.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell
President, Global Development Program

As president of the Global Development Program, Sylvia Mathews Burwell leads four areas of grantmaking: Global Libraries, Financial Services for the Poor, Agricultural Development, and Special Initiatives. Burwell also oversees advocacy activities for the Global Development Program. Burwell is part of the executive management team. She joined the foundation in 2001 as executive vice president and served as chief operating officer and executive director from 2002 to April 2006.

Before joining the foundation, Burwell served in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff to the president, and chief of staff to secretary of the treasury, Robert E. Rubin. Before joining the federal government, Burwell worked for McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm, where she focused on consulting for financial institutions. Burwell is a graduate of Harvard University and is a Rhodes Scholar. She serves on the Board of Directors for MetLife Inc. and the Governing Council of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. She hails from Hinton, West Virginia.

Martha Choe
Chief Administrative Officer

Martha Choe oversees the foundation's Information Technology, Human Resources, Security, and Site Operations teams. Choe joined the foundation in 2004 as the director of the Global Libraries initiative in the foundation's Global Development Program.

Before joining the foundation, Choe served as the director of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development and led the state's bid for the Boeing 787 final assembly production work. She also served two four-year terms on the Seattle City Council and chaired the transportation and finance committees.

Prior to public service, Choe was a vice president at the Bank of California for two Washington state branches. She also taught high school in Eugene, Ore. Choe has a bachelor's degree in speech and ethnic studies from the University of Washington and received her master's in business administration from Seattle University. She has long been active in civic and Asian American organizations and serves on several boards.

Connie Collingsworth
General Counsel and Secretary

Connie Collingsworth joined the foundation as general counsel in 2002. Prior, she was a partner at the law firm Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP and was co-chair of Social Venture Partners, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that focuses on social and environmental issues.

Collingsworth also has served as co-founder, past president and board member for the French American School of Puget Sound. She is currently an advisory board member of Attenex Corporation. She also is a member of the International Program Advisory Committee for Independent Sector and sits on the selection committee for the William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholarship Program.

Collingsworth received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Andrews University, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska, and a Master of Laws degree in international business legal studies from the University of Exeter, England.

Alexander S. Friedman
Chief Financial Officer

Alexander S. Friedman is chief financial officer for the foundation. Friedman oversees Finance, Financial Planning and Analysis, Strategic Planning, Impact Planning and Improvement, and a number of special initiatives.

Before joining the foundation in 2007, Friedman worked as an investment banker with Lazard, an international investment bank. Prior to this, he led corporate development at Medarex, a publicly held biotechnology company. He also served as a White House Fellow and as an assistant to the secretary of defense for special projects in the Clinton administration.

Friedman holds a Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School, a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the Finance Committee of the Seattle Art Museum's board of directors, and is a member on the board of several other national nonprofit organizations.

Allan C. Golston
President, U.S. Program

U.S. Program President Allan C. Golston oversees the foundation’s Education, U.S. Libraries, and Pacific Northwest grant initiatives, as well as U.S. Program Advocacy and Special Initiatives. Golston, who joined the foundation in 1999, most recently served as our chief financial and administrative officer.

Golston’s professional background is in finance and healthcare. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Seattle University and a bachelor’s of science in accounting from the University of Colorado. He is an active community volunteer and serves on the boards of a number of regional and national organizations.

Geoffrey Lamb
Managing Director, Public Policy

Geoffrey Lamb is managing director of public policy for the foundation. In this position, Lamb serves as the senior advisor on international policy development and leads a team that partners with public policy colleagues in each of the foundation's three program areas—Global Health, Global Development, and United States—to help build strategic relationships that are critical to the foundation's work. Prior to becoming managing director of public policy, Lamb was a senior fellow for the foundation's Global Development Program. Before joining the foundation, he held several senior development positions at the World Bank, most recently vice president of Concessional Finance and Global Partnerships. An Irish citizen, Lamb was born in South Africa and educated in South Africa and the United Kingdom, where he was a fellow and deputy director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Heidi Sinclair
Chief Communications Officer

Heidi Sinclair, chief communications officer, is responsible for protecting and advancing the foundation's reputation, increasing awareness of foundation issues, and overseeing our external and internal communications functions. She oversees external, internal, and leadership communications; all forms of content creation, acquisition, aggregation, and distribution; and the design, development, and management of the foundation's visitor center.

Prior to joining the foundation, Sinclair served as CEO for Europe for the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. While at Burson-Marsteller, she built and led the firm's global technology practice. Previously, Sinclair served as a managing director for International Creative Management, one of the world's largest talent and literary agencies.

Sinclair graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She is currently a trustee for the Computer History Museum and a member of the Young/World President's Organization, the African Press Organization, Rotary International, and the International Women's Forum. Sinclair has received various communications and marketing honors. She lives in Seattle with her three children.

Tadataka Yamada, M.D.
President, Global Health Program

As president of the Global Health Program, Dr. Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada leads the foundation’s efforts to help develop and deliver low-cost, life-saving health tools for the developing world. He oversees our global health grant portfolio and Global Health Advocacy.

Before joining the foundation, Yamada served as Chairman of Research and Development and was a member of the Board of Directors at GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to that, he was chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and Physician-in-Chief at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Yamada is a past president of the American Gastroenterological Association and the Association of American Physicians, a master of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science in the United States and the Academy of Medical Sciences in the United Kingdom.