The arrival of a new chief executive officer at the world’s largest charitable foundation comes with much less fanfare than Bill Gates’ own decision to leave Microsoft Corp to focus more on his family’s philanthropy.
Jeff Raikes, 50, a former top executive at the software giant, will be the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s second leader since its inception in 1997. He is replacing Patty Stonesifer, another former Microsoft executive and friend of Bill and Melinda Gates, who said in February that she would step down.
Raikes started his job in silence yesterday, as the charity has denied requests for media interviews in order to give him 100 days of solitude to focus on his new job.
But Raikes has shared his perspective about the new position in several recent interviews.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining the Gates Foundation,” Raikes said. “This is truly a dream job.”
In July, Bill Gates stepped away from his daily duties at the software company he co-founded to focus on the work of his US$38 billion foundation. His wife, Melinda, also has stepped up her time commitment to the foundation.
Raikes has known Bill Gates since starting at Microsoft in 1991 and says he has learned a lot about the foundation over the years.
He expects some of his biggest challenges to be getting up to speed as quickly as possible and managing the foundation’s rapid growth.
The foundation could add as many as 200 new employees to its existing staff of about 600, Raikes said.
In the past decade, the foundation has given away more than US$16 billion, mostly in global health, global development and US education.
It has been ramping up its giving since Warren Buffett, head of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway, announced in June 2006 that he would make annual donations of about US$1.5 billion to the foundation, with the money to be distributed in the year it is donated.
The breadth of its work seemed a little overwhelming to Raikes at first, with three key program areas and 22 initiatives.
“All have very significant — some would say audacious — goals,” he said.
Until this year, he was president of Microsoft’s business software division, responsible for such things as the Office software suite, Microsoft’s server software and applications that help businesses track customers and business processes.
In addition to his years in business management, his volunteer work with various nonprofit organizations focusing on education and children’s issues give him many of the skills he will need to the run the foundation.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS