Melinda French Gates

Melinda French Gates (born Melinda Ann French; August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, she was educated at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, Duke University, and Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Shortly after joining Microsoft in 1987 as a multimedia product developer, she began dating the company's co-founder and then-CEO Bill Gates, whom she married in 1994. They have three children together. The couple divorced in 2021.

From 2000 to 2024, she and Gates co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization. For their philanthropic endeavors, which focused on global health, development, and education, they received numerous awards and honors, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour. After French Gates resigned as co-chair in May 2024, Gates became sole chair of the renamed Gates Foundation.

As part of her divorce settlement, French Gates received $12.5 billion for independent philanthropy, which she has stated will focus on women and families. She has become a prominent megadonor to the Democratic Party, with a focus on abortion rights, and endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 US presidential election. In April 2025, she published a memoir, ''The Next Day: Transition, Change and Moving Forward''.

Consistently ranked by ''Forbes'' magazine as one of the world's most powerful women, French Gates was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021. As of May 2025, her net worth is estimated at US$30.4 billion, according to ''Forbes''. Provided by Wikipedia