French Gates’ departure is the latest step in the evolution of the Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private foundation. From public health and development to agriculture and education, the foundation is a highly influential player, distributing billions of dollars each year.
Its future direction was momentarily in doubt after Mr. and Mrs. French Gates announced their plans to divorce in May 2021, after 27 years of marriage. At the time, the foundation said it would continue to work with Mr. Gates as co-chair, and if either of them decided they could not work together, Ms. French Gates would resign in May 2023 or later.
Ms. French Gates viewed her working relationship with her ex-husband as difficult, according to a person with knowledge of her thinking. After her divorce, Ms. French Gates publicly stated that she and Mr. Gates had a friendly relationship, but that they were not friends.
In “The Moment of Lift,” her first book, published in 2019, Ms. French Gates wrote about how difficult it was sometimes to stand out alongside her husband. “I tried to find my voice while speaking next to Bill,” she wrote, “and that can make it difficult to be heard.”
Following the couple’s divorce in 2021, the foundation introduced several changes with the aim of introducing stronger corporate governance mechanisms and professionalizing its operations. Despite the foundation’s size — an endowment of $75 billion in 2023, about 2,000 employees and a dozen offices around the world — it has long remained a tightly controlled entity where Ms. French Gates and Mr. Gates, the two co-chairs and Co-trustees oversaw much of the decision-making, according to former employees and those who worked with the foundation.
In 2021, shortly after the divorce, Warren E. Buffett, who had joined the foundation as a third trustee after announcing in 2006 that he would give it the majority of his fortune, resigned from his position, saying that his participation was not was not necessary. , but that he would continue to make his contribution. The following year, the foundation added six directors to its board.
