Melinda French Gates, (born August 15, 1964) is an American businessperson and philanthropist.She is the wife of Bill Gates, and the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She worked at Microsoft, where she was project manager for Microsoft Bob, Microsoft Encarta and Expedia.In recognition for the foundation's philanthropic activities in India, Bill and Melinda Gates jointly received India's third highest civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2015.