William Henry Gates III — Co-Founder, Technology Advisor & Non-Independent Director at Microsoft

Mr. William Henry Gates, III, also known as Bill, co-founded Microsoft Corporation in 1975 and serves as its Technology Advisor since February 4, 2014. Mr. Gates is also a Co-Founder of Breakthrough Energy Coalition, which he co-founded in November 2015. He served as the Chief Software Architect of Microsoft Corporation from January 2000 to June 2006 and its Chief Executive Officer from 1981 to January 2000. He also founded Corbis Corporation in 1989 and serves as its Chairman and Owner. He is the Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and serves as its Co-Chairman, where he shapes and approves foundation strategies, review results, advocates for the foundation's issues and helps set the overall direction of the organization. Mr. Gates is Chair of the Board at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Previously, he served as the Chairman of the Board at Microsoft Corporation from 1981 to February 04, 2014. He has been a Director of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. since 2005 and Non-Independent Director of Microsoft Corporation since 1981. He serves as Board Member of Kymeta Corporation. He serves as a Trustee of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Asset Trust. Previously, he served as a Director of ICOS Corporation from July 1990 to February 2005. In 1999, he wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways and his previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks. While at Harvard University, he developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair. He attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School.