NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, December 6, 2019

By Theodore Schleifer

The leaders who call the shots at major philanthropies are some of the most powerful people in the world that you’ve never heard of.

And one at the tippy-top of that list is stepping down in a rare changing of the guard at the Gates Foundation.

Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the CEO of the $50 billion charity, said she would leave her post next year due to health and family issues, ushering in a new era at what has been viewed as the tech sector’s most successful giant charity. Desmond-Hellmann has served as Bill Gates’s senior-most aide for the last five years, overseeing the world’s largest foundation that dispenses about $5 billion a year in grants.

Photo courtesy of Bret Hartman / TED.