Patricia Q. Stonesifer is the president and CEO of Martha's Table, a non-profit in Washington, D.C., that provides community programs to address poverty. Stonesifer currently advises business, nonprofit and government leaders on strategies for reducing inequity, and was appointed in 2010 by President Obama to serve as the Chair of the White House Council for Community Solutions. In July 1996, she was named as one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time.
Career and nonprofit work
Patty Stonesifer is the former co-chair and chief executive officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. On February 7, 2008, she announced that she would step aside from her role at the end of the year. In the ten years prior, she was the founding CEO of the Gates Foundation. In 1997, Bill and Melinda Gates asked Stonesifer to launch the Gates Library Foundation, which later merged with the William H. Gates Foundation in 2000. The Gates Foundation has a $38.7 billion endowment and awards more than a billion dollars a year to "improve access to advances in global health and learning." Before joining the Gates Foundation, Stonesifer spent two decades working in technology. She was a consultant to DreamWorks SKG and held several vice president positions at Microsoft. She began her tenure running Microsoft Canada before being promoted to vice president and revamping Microsoft's Product Support operations. Later she oversaw the Consumer Products Group and served as senior vice president of the Interactive Media Division. In the latter position, Stonesifer was responsible for an $800 million business whose product was interactive entertainment, news, information and service products. In addition, Stonesifer managed Microsoft's investments in new online content and service products, including MSN. The Interactive Media Division produced software titles including Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Microsoft's Magic School Bus Series and Microsoft Flight Simulator. In 1996 she negotiated a Microsoft and DreamWorks SKG joint venture, DreamWorks Interactive, which was subsequently acquired by Electronic Arts. Stonesifer is a founding board member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. She served on the board of The GAVI Fund, which helps to provide vaccines to developing countries. Stonesifer has also served on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General AssemblySpecial Session on AIDS. She is a founding co-chair of the CITIES board, which promotes expanding the use of technology in Seattle's community colleges. Stonesifer donates both time and resources to a number of other regional nonprofit organizations; serves on the boards of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Center for Global Development, and the Broad Institute; is a member of the Circle of Allies and Champions for the National Council of Young Leaders, the advisory board for America Achieves, and the executive committee of RaiseDC; and is a Hope Street Group advisor. Stonesifer served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also on the corporate board of Amazon.com. In 2012 she completed her term as chairman of the Smithsonian InstitutionBoard of Regents.
