Co-Founder, Raikes Foundation
Jeff Raikes is the co-founder, with his wife Tricia, of the Raikes Foundation, which works toward a just and inclusive society where all young people have the support they need to reach their full potential. The foundation focuses on youth-serving systems, seeking to make them work better on behalf of the most marginalized young people in our society.
Based in Seattle, the Raikes Foundation focuses on using the science of learning and development to advance more equitable learning environments; preventing and ending youth and young adult homelessness; and improving the quality of expanded learning programs. The foundation recently launched an initiative aimed at increasing the effectiveness of philanthropic giving.
From 2008 to 2014, Jeff was the chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he led the foundation’s efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. During his more than five years there, Jeff set strategic priorities, oversaw significant growth of the organization, and facilitated relationships with key partners. In 2011 he was named the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Executive of the Year.
Before joining the Gates Foundation, Jeff was a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team, which sets overall strategy and direction for the company. Jeff was president of the Microsoft Business Division and oversaw the Information Worker, Server & Tools Business and Microsoft Business Solutions groups. He previously served as group vice president of the Worldwide Sales and Support Group, where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership for Microsoft's sales, marketing, and service initiatives. Before that, he served as senior vice president of Microsoft North America.
Jeff joined Microsoft in 1981 as a product manager and was instrumental in driving Microsoft's applications marketing strategy. Promoted to director of applications marketing in 1984, Jeff was the chief strategist behind the company's success in graphical applications for the Apple Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows operating system and the creation of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications. Before joining Microsoft, he was a software development manager at Apple Computer Inc.
Jeff is the chair of the Stanford University Board of Trustees and serves on the board of directors for Costco Wholesale Corp., Green Diamond Resources, and Hudl. He is part of the ownership group of the Seattle Mariners and serves on its board. He also serves on the boards of AGRA and the Daugherty Water for Food Institute of the University of Nebraska, and on the advisory board of the Social Enterprise Initiative of Harvard Business School. In June 2008, the Board of Regents at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln renamed the J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management to the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. A longtime supporter of the highly selective and renowned school, Jeff was a part of the initial conceptualization and has served on the advisory board since its inception in 2001.
Jeff, a Nebraska native, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. He and his wife, Tricia, have three children.