Melinda French Gates

 French Gates's first position was tutoring children in mathematics and computer programming. She was then promoted to the position of marketing manager at Microsoft and was in charge of the creation of multimedia products. They included Cinemania, Encarta, Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Money, Works (Macintosh) and Word. She was a part of Expedia, which became one of the most well-known travel websites. French Gates was named General Manager of Information Products in the early 1990s. She was there until 1996. She left Microsoft that year, reportedly in order to start the family. From 1996 until 2003, French Gates was a member of Duke University’s Board of Trustees. Since 2004, she has been an active member of the Graham Holdings Board of Directors (formerly The Washington Post Company). She is also a participant in the Bilderberg Group annual conference. French Gates was also part of Drugstore.com's board of directors, but she quit in August to concentrate on philanthropic causes. French Gates has been an active public figure since. She has stated that she was thinking about powerful women of the past and realized that they had stepped out in some manner. This has allowed her work become more well-known as well as influencing and delivering the mission of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The year 2014 was the year that Bill and Melinda had donated US$28 billion of their personal wealth to the Foundation. French Gates, a former president of the United States, founded Pivotal Ventures in 2015 as an organization independent of the government that could help to develop and implement new solutions to problems that affect women in America as well as their families.