Jeff Raikes ’80, co-founder of the Raikes Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees since 2012, has been elected to serve as the chair of the Board. His term will begin July 1.

As a chair of the Board, Raikes will help direct and enact the University’s growth and development under President Marc Tessier-Lavigne.

“Myself and my fellow trustees all feel that Marc is off to a terrific start,” Raikes said. “Part of the role of the the trustees is to be a thought partner for the President … [and] we are very pleased to do that.”

During his time on the Board, Raikes has served on various committees, including those for globalization, investment responsibility and finance. He currently chairs the Land & Buildings committee.

Raikes has years of industry experience, working at Apple briefly before embarking on a long career at Microsoft, where he eventually worked as senior vice president of Microsoft North America, in addition to serving on the senior leadership team for the company.

In addition to his time in industry, Raikes has extensively supported the University’s programs, personally and through working with the Center on Food Security and the Environment, which is part of the Freeman Spogli Institute, among other things. He also served as the chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Steven Denning MBA ’78, the current chair of the Board, told The Daily, “Jeff’s senior leadership positions … provide an ideal backdrop for him to be the chair” and for him to plan the University’s direction and help expand its impact around the world.

The Raikes Foundation, founded in 2002 by Raikes and his wife Tricia, is focused on helping young people reach their potential, and both have worked to make Stanford more accessible to students from rural and inner city schools.

Ultimately, though, Raikes sees equipping its students as the University’s most important way to influence the world.

“I think what’s important is the generation of knowledge through the work that’s done in research,” said Raikes. “The aspiration of the University … is the education of students to be strong contributors of knowledge in the future.”

Contact Regan Pecjak at rpecjak ‘at’ stanford.edu.