Melinda Gates

Melinda Gates started dating her husband Bill Gates in 1987 while working as the General Manager of Information Products at Microsoft. They married in 1994. Since their marriage, Melinda Gates has taken the lead in overseeing the couple's philanthropic interests, traveling the world to oversee the projects their foundation supports. Melinda is the co-chairman of the couple's charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Gates have been in the news for being the world's richest couple, their charity work, ownership of the most expensive house in America, as Time Magazine's persons of the year, and chartering private planes whenever they travel, among others.http://www.ourstory.com/mgates

Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a study that found that one third of all Americans over the age of 14 have used a public library to access the Internet. The Foundation is advocating that public libraries remain open despite budgeting concerns.http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/gates_foundation_survey_shows.html

Born and raised in Texas by an engineer and a stay at home mom, Melinda Gates developed a love of computers at an early age. As a teenager, she taught her peers the BASIC programming language. When it came time for college, she decided against attending the University of Notre Dame because they were planning to phase out their computer program. She graduated from Duke University's Fuqua Business School with a Master of Business Administration before being hired by Microsoft in 1987.

1. "If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped."—Melinda Gates
2. "Everyone agrees that the failure of our high schools is tragic. It’s bad business, and it’s bad policy. But we act as if it can’t be helped. It can be helped. We designed these high schools; we can redesign them."—Melinda Gates
3. "A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. It’s complicated by the fact that in most nations women receive substantially less education than men."—Melinda Gates