#7 – Bill Gates, Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

William Henry “Bill” Gates III (born in 1955) is best known as co-founder of the world’s largest and most famous software company: Microsoft.  During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO (until 2000) and chairman (until 2014) and was the largest individual shareholder until then.  According to Forbes, he is still ranked as the number one richest person in the world and has been on the world’s rich list since 1987.

Though Gates is still involved in Microsoft as a technology adviser, he has been dedicating more of his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2006.  The primary stated aims of the foundation are to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty globally, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the U.S.

For a profit of course.