Bill Gates

Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington in 1955. He attended an exclusive prep school and started writing computer programs as a young teen. At 17, he formed his first company, Traf-O-Data. Gates attended Harvard, where he continued to advance his programming skills, eventually dropping out to form Microsoft. Along with other pioneers like Apple/Steve Jobs, Microsoft would start the personal computer revolution, and Gates would become one of the richest men in the world. At Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and is the company’s largest individual shareholder. Today, Gates works full-time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while remaining at Microsoft as chairman.