Melinda Gates

Melinda Gate's keynote career took on a more prominent role in 2006 when she retired from the board of Drugstore.com to spend more time promoting the initiatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she co-founded and co-chairs with husband Bill.

Gates attended Duke University where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and computer science in 1986 and completed her MBA in 1987 at the university's Fuqua School of Business.

After graduating, Gates played an integral role in the development of multimedia programs at Microsoft as the General Manager of Information Products where she learned to effectively transform strategies of innovation into tangible results.

Her not for profit organization strives to tackle tough issues in healthcare, economics, education and extreme poverty and she uses keynote addresses as a method for disseminating these ideas and promoting discussion on how to combat them. In honor of the charitable work done by the organization, Melinda and Bill have been jointly recognized through awards such as the 'Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation' and the 'Order of the Aztec Eagle.'

She has also been cited by Forbes magazine as one of the '100 Most Powerful Women' in the world on three occasions and has shared Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' designation with her husband, Bill. Her ability to both shed light on humanitarian concerns as well as providing practical solutions for solving these issues make her keynotes both provocative and highly acclaimed.