Bill Gates Steps Down From Microsoft Board of Directors Microsoft co-founder and Technology Advisor Bill Gates stepped down from the Board of Directors the Microsoft announced on March 13. He will also be leaving the Berkshire Hathaway board. Bill Gates is leaving these positions to dedicate more time to his philanthropic work, mainly the working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates will, however, continue to serve as a technology advisor to CEO Satya Nadella. Now that Bill Gates has left, Microsoft's board consists of 12 members: John W. Thompson, Microsoft independent chair; Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners and one of the founders of LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns; Hugh Johnston, vice chairman and chief financial officer of PepsiCo; Teri L. List-Stoll, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Gap, Inc.; Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO; Sandra E. Peterson, operating partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman, PSP Partners; Charles W. Scharf, chief executive officer and president of Wells Fargo & Co.; Arne Sorenson, president and CEO, Marriott International Inc.; John W. Stanton, chairman of Trilogy Equity Partners; Emma Walmsley, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK); and Padmasree Warrior, founder, CEO and president, Fable Group Inc.