Are You Ready to Be a “Bridger”?

Occasionally, I like to highlight folks who have had great success in the marketplace but then move into the non-profit sector to use their skills and abilities to make a more significant impact on people.  They are sometimes called Bridgers—individuals whose professional experience comes wholly or primarily from for-profit companies prior to entering the nonprofit sector—and they make the switch for reasons both personal and professional.  I came across this story on Patty Stonesifer, the founding chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Stonesifer, a former senior executive at Microsoft Corp., recently stepped down as the foundation’s chief executive in August 2008.

As CEO of the foundation from its inception in 1997 until August 2008, Stonesifer led its mission to promote equity for all people around the world, setting strategic priorities, monitoring results and facilitating relationships with key partners. Stonesifer is now a senior advisor to the foundation’s trustees, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett. In addition to her continuing work with the foundation, Stonesifer recently became the chair of the Board of Regents for the Smithsonian Institution. Prior to joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stonesifer had a two-decade career in technology, including eight years in senior executive roles at Microsoft Corp.

The article explores Stonesifer’s transition into the nonprofit sector as well as her subsequent role as leader of a fast-growing foundation.  Like many bridgers, Stonesifer found the no-frills, collaborative culture in the nonprofit sector a challenge at first. But she quickly saw that her new role allowed her to rediscover what she liked about being a manager: the ability to build relationships with people within and outside the organization. Her “rediscovery” also helped her tackle one of the biggest challenges in managing the fast-growing foundation: balancing the foundation’s desire to accomplish important initiatives quickly with the need to first reach consensus with all the key players affected by each initiative.

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