Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said Wednesday that the recently divorced Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates remain committed to co-chairing the foundation, amid renewed speculation about French Gates' future following a news report that she is no longer pledging to leave the bulk of her wealth to the foundation.
French Gates’ role at the Gates Foundation has come under significant scrutiny since the couple divorced last year. And Suzman has repeatedly emphasized the former couple’s intention to continue working together at the head of the organization, which has played a monumental role in global health and development over the past two decades. He gave the same assurances Wednesday.
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“Let me be very clear: Bill and Melinda are both fully committed to being the long-term co-chairs of the foundation,” Suzman said during a call with subscribers to the foundation’s newsletter, The Optimist. French Gates and Gates have pledged to add $15 billion to the foundation’s $50 billion endowment.
Suzman said the former couple made that commitment to him and the three other incoming members of the new board of trustees, which was announced last week. The other board members are Zimbabwean billionaire and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa, London School of Economics Director Minouche Shafik, and Thomas J. Tierney, a co-founder and co-chair of nonprofit advisory firm The Bridgespan Group.
The new board was brought on as part of governance changes requested by Gates and French Gates following their divorce, billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett’s resignation as a trustee last year, and the death of William H. Gates Sr. — Bill Gates’ father and honorary foundation co-chair — in 2020.
The former couple’s divorce last year has led to seismic changes for the foundation. And the dust is unlikely to settle until it’s clear that French Gates plans to stay on permanently, philanthropy adviser Stephanie Ellis-Smith recently told Devex.
In addition to adding new board members, Gates and French Gates have agreed that she could resign within two years of the divorce, should either decide that they cannot work together amicably. They followed the news that French Gates could possibly resign with the release of separate letters late last year for the Giving Pledge — an initiative that they launched with Buffett to encourage the wealthy to give away the bulk of their fortunes during their lifetime or upon their death — after initially issuing a joint letter in 2010.
While Gates recommitted to giving most of his approximately $130 billion fortune to the foundation, French Gates in her letter signaled that she was open to taking an approach to philanthropy that “prioritizes flexibility over ideology” and said she would “seek out new partners, ideas, and perspectives” in her work at the foundation and at Pivotal Ventures, her own philanthropic investment company.
Already, French Gates has teamed up with donors such as MacKenzie Scott, a fellow billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, through Pivotal. Scott is known for her hands-off style of philanthropy, which has included giving away billions in unrestricted grants at a fast clip since 2020 without setting up a foundation. The two partnered to donate $40 million to gender equality organizations in the United States last summer.
French Gates also has seemingly taken the additional step of no longer pledging the bulk of her wealth to the Gates Foundation, “people familiar with the matter” told The Wall Street Journal this week. Instead, she plans to “spread it among philanthropic endeavors,” according to the publication.
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The news comes after the Gates Foundation last week made an interesting tweak to a press release about the appointment of new trustees. It originally mentioned pledges from Gates, French Gates, and former trustee Buffett to “devote the bulk of their remaining resources to the foundation.” That line was replaced with “the expectation of future pledges,” leading to speculation that French Gates might not leave most of her fortune to the foundation. She is currently worth $11.4 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Pivotal Ventures did not respond to a request for comment. Gates Foundation spokesperson Andrew Estrada said, “The foundation has no additional comment regarding Melinda’s future giving beyond what she said in her Giving Pledge letter.”
Suzman — who, during Wednesday’s call, did not comment directly on the latest report of French Gates potentially splitting her wealth among several organizations — reiterated that she and Gates were “fully engaged” and maintaining a good working relationship.
He said that in the year since their divorce, the two have been making “a number of big external commitments” in support of the foundation’s work in nutrition, gender equality, and climate adaptation. In addition to a recent $150 million commitment to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, they also regularly lead the foundation’s COVID-19 response meetings and jointly approve new areas of work, he said.
Suzman also said that when the board meets for the first time next week, “we’ll be working out a clear dynamic of how we onboard the board members” to “make sure that they do have the space and platforms to engage with Bill and Melinda and with me and with our other leadership.”
The foundation has said it could eventually have up to nine board members in total. Suzman said the foundation was actively looking at additional candidates who might increase the board’s technical, gender, and geographical diversity, though he did not indicate when any might join. With the current group of trustees, some philanthropy experts have noted a lack of members who might bring a “critical lens” or who could represent grantees.
The Gates Foundation “unequivocally” remains a family foundation and is not looking to change its mission or priorities, which are considered set, but “what we are looking to do is be challenged to be smarter, better, and more effective,” Suzman said during the call. The foundation’s set priorities are global health, agricultural development, financial inclusion, and education in the U.S., he said.
Still, Suzman said the foundation wanted to change and adapt its investments, partners, and approach in a way that is similar to its shift to prioritizing gender equality and climate adaptation in agricultural development in recent years.
He also said that the foundation had wanted people on the board who were familiar with its work and how it operates, and who also had expertise and background that could help them make better strategic decisions. He pointed to Masiyiwa’s longtime engagement in development issues and previous work with French Gates on a project to use technology to accelerate development. Masiyiwa also is currently head of the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.
Suzman also said Shafik’s background as a former official at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and Tierney’s experience as an adviser and leader in the philanthropy sector add “value” to the board.
“We think this is a strong group in its own right,” he said. “And hopefully we will add some really good people as well in the future.”