William Henry Gates III is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He was a major entrepreneur of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist and former computer scientist and general manager at Microsoft. French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported as of 2020 to be the second largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $49.8 billion in assets. On his 43rd birthday, Bill Gates gave the foundation $1 billion. The primary stated goals of the foundation are to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty across the world, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the U.S. Key individuals of the foundation include Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, Warren Buffett, chief executive officer Mark Suzman, and Michael Larson.
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of over $100 billion as of November 2022, making him the world's sixth-wealthiest person.
Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over $1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network's financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
Acumen is a nonprofit impact investment fund focused on investing in social enterprises that serve low-income individuals in United States. Acumen was founded in April 2001 by Jacqueline Novogratz. It aims to demonstrate that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with business acumen can result in thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Over the years, Acumen has invested $115 million in 113 companies and has had a successful track record in sourcing and executing investment opportunities in the clean energy, health care and agriculture sectors.
Since 2004, the American business magazine Forbes compiled an annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. It is edited by notable Forbes journalists, including Moira Forbes, and is based on visibility and economic impact. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at the top spot from 2006 to 2020, with the exception of 2010, where she was temporarily supplanted by then U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. The top 10 each year are listed below. There were at least six Americans every year except for 2007, when there were five.
Sam Dryden was a thought leader and advocate for food and nutrition security, with a particular focus on small-holder farmer led agricultural development in Africa and Asia. Lately Dryden was a Fellow at Imperial College, working on a project to promote digital technologies that can catalyse sustainable agricultural transformation across the food system in Africa.
Cascade Investment, L.L.C. is an American holding company and private investment firm headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, United States. It is controlled by Bill Gates, and managed by Michael Larson. More than half of Gates's fortune is held in assets outside his holding of Microsoft shares. Cascade is the successor company to Dominion Income Management, the former investment vehicle for Gates's holdings, which was managed by convicted felon Andrew Evans.
Michael Larson is an American money manager. He is the chief investment officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Bill Gates' personal fortune through Cascade Investment. He assumed the role in 1994.
The Bridgespan Group is a U.S. nonprofit organization in Boston, Massachusetts that provides management consulting to nonprofits and philanthropists. In addition to consulting, Bridgespan makes case studies freely available on its website and publications.
Trevor Neilson is an American businessperson, investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of WasteFuel, a company that produces renewable fuels using proven technologies to address the climate emergency and revolutionize mobility.
The Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) is a Broomfield, Colorado-based nonprofit philanthropic venture capital fund that identifies the country's best public charter schools, funds their expansion, and helps to increase their impact. CSGF is driven by a conviction that all children deserve great public schools in their communities.
Breakthrough Energy is the umbrella name of several organizations, founded by Bill Gates in 2015, that aim to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy and in other technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It invests in a variety of startup companies that are attempting to commercialize new concepts such as nuclear fusion, large-capacity batteries to store renewable energy, and microbe-generated biofuels.
Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) is a Canadian nonprofit organization that uses a Grand Challenges model to fund solutions to critical health and development challenges in the developing world.
The Goldman Sachs Foundation is a New York-based, not-for-profit private foundation that is a subsidiary of the financial services firm Goldman Sachs and has the goal of bettering humanity worldwide, especially regarding health and education. In recent years its principal philanthropic projects have been: 10,000 Women, and 10,000 Small Businesses.
Goalkeepers is an initiative launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2017 to bring together leaders from around the world to accelerate progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The initiative also provides reports and data flow charts over SDGs progress since 1990.
AbCellera Biologics Inc. is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based biotechnology firm that researches and develops human antibodies. The company is best known for its leading role in the Pandemic Prevention Platform, a project of DARPA's Biological Technologies Office. AbCellera utilizes a proprietary technology platform, which they claim can develop "medical countermeasures within 60 days." Its platform for single-cell screening was initially developed at the University of British Columbia.
