Bill Gates served as chairman of Microsoft after stepping down as the company’s chief executive officer.
Gates became Microsoft’s CEO in 1986 and led the company through its transformation from a small software supplier into a dominant personal-computer company. He stepped down as CEO in 2000, when Steve Ballmer succeeded him in the role.
Gates remained Microsoft’s chairman after that change and continued to work closely with the company as chairman and chief software architect. He later reduced his day-to-day responsibilities and left his full-time role in 2008, although he continued serving as chairman until 2014.
The chairman and chief executive positions are different: the CEO manages the company’s operations, while the chairman leads the board. Gates’s later Microsoft role therefore did not mean that he remained the company’s chief executive.