Patricia Stonesifer

Patty Stonesifer advises business, nonprofit and government leaders on strategies for reducing inequity. In 2012 she completed a three-year term as Chair of the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents. In the ten years prior, she was the founding CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She continues to serve on the Smithsonian Board of Regents, as well as on the boards of the Center for Global Development and the Broad Institute.

In 2010 President Obama appointed her as Chair of the White House Council on Community Solutions. Other non-profit boards on which Ms. Stonesifer has served include the Seattle Foundation, the GAVI Fund, One.org and the Seattle YWCA.

Before joining the Gates Foundation, Ms. Stonesifer spent two decades working in technology, culminating as Senior Vice President at Microsoft Corp.  She is on the corporate boards of Amazon.com and Miraval Resorts, and formerly served on the boards of Alaska Airlines, Kinko's and Viacom.

Ms. Stonesifer served as a member of the US delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Special Sessions on AIDS. She is a graduate of Indiana University, and has received honorary doctorate degrees from Indiana University and Tufts University.