William Gates Jr.

William Gates Jr. General Information

Biography

Mr. William Gates serves as Co-Chairman and Board Member at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is also a Founder of Gates Ventures. He is also the owner of Gates Frontier. He is a director of Microsoft Corporation and served as Chairman of the Board from its incorporation in 1981 until February 2014. He is currently a Technology Advisor for Microsoft Corporation and was its Chief Executive Officer from 1981 until January 2000. He is a Co-Founder, of Breakthrough Energy Coalition & serves as Investor at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. He who has served as a director since 2004 will be retiring from the Board of Directors. In 1975, he founded Microsoft with Paul Allen and led the company to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. More than 20 years later, guided by the belief that every life has equal value, he and his wife, Melinda, established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2008, he transitioned from his daily responsibilities at Microsoft to focus full-time with Melinda on their foundation's work to reduce hunger and poverty globally, harness advances in science and technology to save lives, and improve education in the U.S. Since 2006, he has also served as chairman of TerraPower, a company he helped launch in 2006 that aims to provide the world with a more affordable, secure and environmentally-friendly form of nuclear energy. He is the Founder & serves as Chairman at Cascade Investment.