Melinda French Gates[2] (born Melinda Ann French; August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist, former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft, and the ex-wife of its co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates.[3] French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes magazine.[4] In 2000, she and her then-husband Bill Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization.[5] She and her ex-husband have been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour. In early May 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates announced they were getting divorced.[6] She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.[7]