Melinda French Gates
American philanthropist and former co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Ministry of Women and Child Development · via Wikipedia: Melinda French Gates · GODL-India
As of February 2026, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$30.4 billion.[1]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Melinda Ann French
- Born
- 15 August 1964
- Birthplace
- Dallas, Texas, U.S.
- Education
- Duke University (BA, MBA)
- Political party
- Democratic
- Occupation
- Co-founder and former co-chair of Gates Foundation; Founder of Pivotal Ventures
- Children
- 3, including Phoebe
- Honours
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016); Padma Bhushan (2015)
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
French Gates was born on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, the second of four children.[2][3] She graduated as valedictorian from Ursuline Academy of Dallas in 1982 and earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics from Duke University in 1986.[4] Upon finishing her studies, she took a marketing manager position at Microsoft, where she oversaw the creation of multimedia offerings like Encarta and Expedia.[5][6] She stepped down as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2024, after which the organization was renamed the Gates Foundation.[7][8]
What the cited sources add
A Newsweek article reported that foundation CEO Mark Suzman stated the name change to Gates Foundation would honor Bill Sr.'s legacy and Melinda's contributions.[8] The same article noted that Suzman wrote Melinda wanted to focus on altering the trajectory of women's rights being rolled back.[8] An Independent article described how Melinda's mother read her an admonitory letter during a wedding shower, provoking the William H Gates Foundation.[6] A GeekWire article reported that at the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration, French Gates spoke about her first love being an Apple III computer.[9]
The same GeekWire article quoted her saying "the next Bill Gates might not look anything like the last one"[9] A GeekWire article on her book tour noted she discussed unpaid labor, stating women do about 90 minutes of extra unpaid work daily in the U.S..[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Melinda French Gates" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Power Women", Forbes; "BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year?", BBC News, December 7, 2021; "Melinda French Gates", Forbes, 2026-01-21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Melinda French Gates" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Office romance: how Bill met Melinda", The Independent, October 23, 2011; "Melinda Gates biography", biography.com, March 15, 2018; Harris, "A woman of substance", The Guardian, November 25, 2006 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Melinda French Gates" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sellers, "Melinda Gates goes public", CNN Money, January 7, 2008, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Melinda French Gates" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ursuline Receives Additional $2 Million Grant; Science, Math, Technology Building Task Force is Formed", Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Mary Zeiss Stange, "The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World", SAGE Publications, January 9, 2013, p. 386–; "The incredible life of Melinda Gates — one of the world's richest and most powerful women", November 1, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Melinda French Gates" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Staff, "How Melinda Gates Is Diversifying Tech", Fast Company, January 9, 2017; Small, "Melinda Gates : Philanthropist and Education Advocate.", Cavendish Square Publishing LLC, 2017; Small, "Melinda Gates : Philanthropist and Education Advocate.", Cavendish Square Publishing LLC, 2017; "Office Romance: How Bill met Melinda", The Independent, 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Office romance: how Bill met Melinda", The Independent, October 23, 2011. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Melinda French Gates" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to change name", Newsweek, 2024-05-13 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to change name", Newsweek, 2024-05-13. facts only, no text reused. newsweek.com
- "Melinda Gates on women in tech, her first love, and the origins of Comic Sans", GeekWire, October 4, 2017. facts only, no text reused. geekwire.com
- "Melinda Gates draws huge crowd for hometown finale of 'Moment of Lift' tour, with surprise intro", GeekWire, May 10, 2019. facts only, no text reused. geekwire.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Melinda French Gates (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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