Patricia Q. Stonesifer/ˈstoʊnsaɪfər/ (born 1956) is an American executive. From June 2023 to January 2024, she was the interim CEO of The Washington Post[1][2] and is on the board of Amazon. She began her career in various executive roles at Microsoft before becoming the founding CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She previously was the president and CEO of Martha's Table, a Washington D.C.–based non-profit that provides community-based solutions to poverty.[3][4]
Early life and education
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Stonesifer is the sixth of nine children in a Roman Catholic family. Her father, Bill Quigley, was a car salesman and her mother was a physical therapist. Volunteering was a core value of her family and childhood; in addition to the nine children, the family hosted foster children for "a significant part of the time that I was growing up".[4] She graduated from Indiana University in 1982.[5]
Career
Technology
Stonesifer spent two decades working at for-profit technology companies as a consultant to DreamWorks SKG and at Microsoft in various vice president positions. She began her tenure at Microsoft in 1988[6] running its Canadian division before being promoted to vice president and revamping Microsoft's Product Support operations.[7] Later she oversaw the Consumer Products Group and served as senior vice president of the Interactive Media Division.[7] In the latter position, Stonesifer was responsible for an $800 million business responsible for interactive entertainment, news, information and service products, and she oversaw the launch of MSNBC (cable TV) and MSN. The Interactive Media Division produced software titles including EncartaEncyclopedia, 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.
In July 1996, while she worked at Microsoft, she was named as one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time.[8] By the time she left Microsoft in 1997,[6] she was the highest-ranking woman there.[4]
Nonprofit work
She helped Bill and Melinda Gates found their foundation, growing it from its inception in 1997 to the world's largest philanthropy with 500 employees by the time she stepped down in 2008.[9][4] In 1997, Bill and Melinda Gates asked Stonesifer to launch the Gates Library Foundation,[10] which later merged with the William H. Gates Foundation in 2000. She was its CEO from 2006 to 2008 and President and co-chair from 1997 to 2006. Even after she stepped down, she continued her involvement as senior advisor until January 2012.[6]
Next, she served as chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, a position created as part of the Smithsonian's large-scale reform, from January 2009 to January 2012 and as Vice Chair from January 2012 to January 2013.[5][6]
She is married to Michael Kinsley, a political columnist and founding editor of the Microsoft-funded online journal Slate. She has two children, a son and a daughter, from a previous marriage, as well as two grandchildren.[12][13]
