Melinda French Gates
Melinda French Gates[2] (born Melinda Ann French; August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist, former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft, and the ex-wife of its co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates.[3] French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine.[4]
In this article, the surname is French Gates, not Gates.
Melinda French Gates
Duke University (BA, MBA)
- Co-Chair and Founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Founder, Pivotal Ventures
3
In 2000, she and her then-husband Bill Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization as of 2015.[5] She and her ex-husband have been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour.
In early May 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates announced they were getting divorced but will still remain co-chairs of the foundation.[6] She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.[7]
Early life[edit]
Melinda Ann French was born on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas.[8][9][10] She is the second of four children born to Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Agnes Amerland, a homemaker. She has an older sister and two younger brothers.[11]
French, a Catholic, attended St. Monica Catholic School, where she was the valedictorian of her class.[12][13] At age 14, French was introduced to the Apple II by her father, and Mrs. Bauer, a school teacher who advocated teaching computer science at the all-girls school.[14] It was from this experience she developed her interest in computer games and the BASIC programming language.[15]
French graduated as valedictorian from Ursuline Academy of Dallas in 1982.[16] She earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics from Duke University in 1986 and an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business in 1987.[17] At Duke, French was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Beta Rho Chapter.[18]
Women in technology[edit]
French Gates's experience of a male-dominated workplace at Microsoft inspired her to encourage more women in the computing field.[65] In September 2016, she announced her desire to increase diversity in the workplace, especially in the technology industry, stating: "Every company needs technology, and yet we're graduating fewer women technologists. That is not good for society. We have to change it."[66] French Gates also spoke about this topic at the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, an annual series of conferences.[67]
She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.[7]