Melinda French Gates
Melinda French Gates | |
|---|---|
| Born | Melinda Ann French August 15, 1964 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Philanthropist, former marketing manager |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Known for | Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2000–2024) |
| Notable work | The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World (2019); The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward (2025) |
Melinda French Gates (née Melinda Ann French; born August 15, 1964) is a prominent American philanthropist. She grew up in Dallas, Texas, and received her education at the Ursuline Academy of Dallas, followed by Duke University and its Fuqua School of Business. In 1987, she started her career at Microsoft as a developer for multimedia products. She married Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1994; the couple divorced in 2021 and share three children.
Between 2000 and 2024, French Gates and Bill Gates jointly led the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, recognized as the largest private philanthropic organization worldwide, with a focus on global health, education, and development initiatives. Their philanthropic contributions were acknowledged through prestigious awards such as the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and France's Legion of Honour. Following her departure as co-chair in May 2024, Bill Gates assumed sole leadership of the foundation under its new name.
Under the terms of their divorce agreement, French Gates was granted $12.5 billion to support her independent philanthropic efforts, primarily targeting programs for women and families. She has become a significant megadonor to the Democratic Party, advocating strongly for abortion rights and endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election. In April 2025, she released a memoir entitled The Next Day: Transition, Change and Moving Forward.
Frequently featured by Forbes as one of the world’s most influential women, French Gates was also included in the BBC's 100 Women of 2021. As of July 2025, her net worth is estimated at approximately US$30.6 billion according to Forbes.
Early life and education
Melinda Ann French entered the world on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas. She is the second child among four siblings born to Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Agnes Amerland, who was a homemaker. Raised in the Catholic faith, she attended St. Monica Catholic School where she graduated as valedictorian.
At the age of fourteen, French Gates was introduced to the Apple II computer by her father alongside a teacher who promoted computer science at her all-girls school. This experience ignited her enthusiasm for computer games and learning the BASIC programming language.
She completed her high school education as valedictorian at Ursuline Academy of Dallas in 1982. French Gates obtained a bachelor's degree in both computer science and economics from Duke University in 1986, followed by an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business in 1987. During her time at Duke, she was affiliated with the Beta Rho Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
Early career and Microsoft
French Gates began her professional journey by tutoring children in mathematics and computer programming. Upon completing her studies, she joined Microsoft as a marketing manager responsible for multimedia product development including titles such as Cinemania, Encarta, Publisher, Bob, Money, Works (Macintosh), and Word. Additionally, she played a role in expanding Expedia, which has since become a leading online travel service. In the early 1990s, she advanced to General Manager of Information Products, a position she held until leaving Microsoft in 1996 to dedicate more time to family commitments.
Corporate directorship
From 1996 until 2003, French Gates was a member of Duke University's board of trustees. Since 2004, she has served as a director at Graham Holdings, the company formerly known as The Washington Post Company, and regularly attends the annual Bilderberg Group meetings. She was also a board member of Drugstore.com until 2006, when she chose to resign in order to dedicate more time to her philanthropic work.
Philanthropy
French Gates has been publicly acknowledged for her role in advancing the objectives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2000. By 2022, Bill and Melinda Gates had contributed a total of US$59.1 billion to the foundation. On May 13, 2024, French Gates declared her intention to step down as co-chair, effective June 7. Following her departure, the foundation was renamed the Gates Foundation, with Bill Gates assuming sole leadership.
In 2015, she established Pivotal Ventures, an independent entity committed to pioneering solutions for women and families across the United States. Collaborating with Lever for Change, a subsidiary of the MacArthur Foundation, she initiated a grant competition named Action for Women's Health for 2024-25, aimed at allocating $250 million toward women's health projects.
Writing
French Gates released her first book in 2019 titled The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. This work draws attention to how women's unpaid labor is economically undervalued and references feminist economist Dame Marilyn Waring's If Women Counted. Former president Barack Obama supported the book's promotion. In 2025, she published another book called The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward.
Women in technology
Having experienced Microsoft's predominantly male culture firsthand, French Gates became an advocate for increasing female participation in technology fields. In September 2016, she stressed the importance of enhancing diversity within tech industries, highlighting a decline in women graduating with technology degrees. She further addressed these concerns at the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference.
Awards and recognition
Bill and Melinda Gates have been honored with numerous awards celebrating their philanthropic achievements. In 1998, they received Honorary Memberships from the American Library Association. The Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged was bestowed upon them in 2002. In 2005, Time magazine named them Persons of the Year alongside Bono. Their global charitable efforts earned them the Spanish Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 2006.
Also in 2006, Melinda was awarded the Insignia of the Order of the Aztec Eagle for her contributions to education and health initiatives in Mexico. That same year, Seattle Children's Hospital named its Ambulatory Care building after her following her leadership in a $300 million fundraising campaign to enhance patient care and research facilities.
In 2007, she received an honorary doctorate from the Karolinska Institute. Together with Bill Gates, she was granted honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge in 2009; this was supported by their $210 million endowment that created the Gates Cambridge Trust for international postgraduate scholars. Duke University conferred upon her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 2013.
Forbes consistently included her among the world's 100 Most Powerful Women, reaching as high as #3 several times between 2013 and 2017. She was awarded the UCSF Medal and appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2013 for her philanthropic contributions. The couple received India’s Padma Bhushan award in 2015, followed by the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016.
In 2017, French Gates and her husband were appointed Commanders of France’s Legion of Honour. That year also saw her receive Germany’s United Nations Association’s Otto Hahn Peace Medal for exceptional efforts toward peace and international understanding. Additionally, she was ranked #12 on Richtopia’s list of the top 200 Most Influential Philanthropists and Social Entrepreneurs worldwide.
In June 2024, she served as Stanford University’s Commencement speaker, underscoring her sustained impact on global philanthropy and leadership.
Political activity
Following her divorce, Melinda French Gates attained financial independence and became a leading megadonor supporting the Democratic Party, with a particular emphasis on abortion rights. In the lead-up to the 2024 US presidential election, she contributed more than $10 million to Democratic initiatives. She publicly backed Joe Biden and, after his withdrawal, extended her endorsement to Kamala Harris, marking her initial endorsements in a presidential race.
Personal life
Melinda began her relationship with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in 1987, marrying him in 1994 during a private ceremony held on [[LānaTemplate:Okinai]], Hawaii. The couple has three children together. Their residences included a unique earth-sheltered home overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington and a beachfront property in Del Mar, California.
After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda announced their separation in May 2021. Melinda had been consulting with divorce attorneys since at least October 2019 amid disclosures of Bill’s associations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Although there was no prenuptial agreement, she did not seek spousal support but received assets exceeding $2 billion in stocks and shares. Their divorce was officially completed on August 2, 2021. Since then, she has publicly used the name Melinda French Gates.
In October 2021, both attended the wedding of their eldest daughter Jennifer to Olympic equestrian Nayel Nassar. By March 2022, Melinda characterized their post-divorce relationship as "friendly" but clarified they were not "friends." Reports in late 2022 indicated she was romantically involved with former Fox News correspondent Jon Du Pre; however, by April 2024, the couple had parted ways. Melinda became a grandmother in March 2023 when Jennifer welcomed a daughter.
French Gates identifies as a practicing Catholic.
Published works
- The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World (2019)
- The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward (2025)