The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008 - (Page 16)

FOUNDATIONS MARK HRYWNA Rebooting At Gates Patty Stonesifer to step down as CEO in 2009 C redited with guiding the world’s largest foundation during its infancy and being a someone not averse to taking risk, Patty Stonesifer announced she will be stepping down by 2009 as chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Stonesifer, who receives no compensation as CEO, will be involved with co-chairs Bill and Melinda Gates in selecting the next leader and will remain at the foundation in a different capacity. The past two years, she was selected to The NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50, a list of executives selected for their impact on the charitable sector. “When Bill and I set out to help ensure libraries in the U.S. offer free access to computers and the Internet, we turned to our friend Patty, whose management ability and effective leadership made her perfect for the job,” said Melinda Gates.“More than a decade later, as we reflect on the progress and depend on the foundation team she built to continue and expand this work, we know enlisting Patty was one of the best decisions we have ever made.” Leaders in the nonprofit sector praised the former Microsoft executive for managing the intense growth of the foundation. Stonesifer, 51, in 1997 helped to create the Gates Learning Foundation. Three years later, it merged with the William H. Gates Trust to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Seattle-based organization is now the largest foundation in the world, with an endowment of $38.7 billion and more than 500 employees. “Amidst such dramatic growth, there have not been any major cataclysmic events from within the foundation.There have not been any huge negative stories, scandals or problems, or should we say disputes that broke into the open,” said Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations (CoF). “The biggest story here is that maybe there is no story,” he added. Stonesifer brought “a sense of order and focus, and real mission to the work there at a most challenging Patty Stonesifer with Francisco Zarco Public Library Director Federico Sanchez Gamboa visits a student training class in the library. time based on the unprecedented growth and the size of their assets,” said Gunderson,and “the real desire to focus those assets in specific ways that produce real outcomes” both domestically and internationally. “It went from a small kitchen table kind of foundation to a huge one in a very short time, and that is always difficult to manage and plan and try to get the right people and the right systems,” said Elizabeth Boris, director of the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at The Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Two years ago, billionaire Warren Buffett announced he’d be passing $30 billion of his fortune on to the Gates Foundation over time, and joined Bill and Melinda Gates as board members. Last year, he contributed more than $1 billion to the foundation. Sara Englehardt, president of The Foundation Center in New York City, credited Stonesifer’s unique for-profit experience.“It did take someone who had been in a place like Microsoft, which was a startup and became large, to figure out how you do the same thing with a foundation,” she said.The foundation has changed and grown over time but has been able to Foundations, page 23 16 MARCH 1, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.nptimes.com/31208ama.html http://www.nptimes.com http://www.nptimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008

The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008 Fuel Costs Eating Up Food Banks California Legislation Pushing Foundation Funding Diversity Estate Tax Won't Die Contents Who...When...Where...How...What? Red Cross Cuts Jobs, Regional Support In $200 Million Deficit General Ramblings: What the....? Briefs Taxing Issues: New for 2008 Foundations: Rebooting At Gates Mail Drove Donors to Give Online Streetsmart Nonprofit Manager: The Power of the Founder Software: Technology Innovation Calendar Fundraising Guide NPT Jobs Resource Directory AFP International Conference Insert

The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.