{"id":3136,"date":"2013-07-26T07:30:28","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T11:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=3136"},"modified":"2013-07-26T07:30:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-26T11:30:28","slug":"ex-microsoft-exec-living-the-boomer-fantasy-meaningful-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=3136","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Microsoft Exec Living The Boomer Fantasy: Meaningful Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1433\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?attachment_id=1433\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"300,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"forbes\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1433\" alt=\"forbes\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?resize=150%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?w=300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>Patty Stonesifer sits cross-legged on the floor of a preschool classroom, her hands dripping with purple watercolor paint as she makes small block prints with the help of a 4-year-old who expounds on the proper technique to dip and print. In a flash of pigtails the tiny tutor dashes across the room, slips into a princess gown and strikes a pose for Stonesifer, who beams. The classroom, stocked with laptops, globes and books, as well as supplies for art and make-believe, is part of Martha\u2019s Table, a 33-year-old Washington, D.C. charity that each day feeds 1,100 people, many of them homeless, and runs preschool and afterschool programs for children from poor families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to get my hands dirty,\u201d Stonesifer says later, her palms still purple-tinged, as she explains why in April she became president and CEO of Martha\u2019s Table.<\/p>\n<p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/2013\/06\/05\/ex-microsoft-exec-living-the-boomer-fantasy-meaningful-work\/\">This story appears in the June 24, 2013 issue of Forbes.<\/a>)<\/p>\n<aside data-position=\"4\"><\/aside>\n<p>At 57 Stonesifer could afford to do anything or nothing at all. In her 30s she was the highest-ranking woman at Microsoft, running its interactive media division and overseeing the development of MSNBC, the online magazine Slate and Encarta, one of the first digital encyclopedias. But when she turned 40 she no longer felt fully engaged in the business and \u201cretired\u201d to get more involved in her two kids\u2019 lives and, she says, \u201cfigure out what that next chapter for me was to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She didn\u2019t have long to think. In 1997 Bill and Melinda Gates recruited her to launch their library foundation. \u201cMy job at the beginning was connecting hundreds of libraries to the Internet. So it was very boots on the ground, sleeves rolled up. It was fabulous\u2013one of the happiest times in my life,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n<p>By 2000 she had become the first CEO of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charitable foundation in the world, with $36.4 billion in assets and 1,116 employees as of the end of 2012. Her role, she says, became that of the \u201cbenevolent bureaucrat\u201d: She built an organization, personally reviewed more than 100 of the 3,000 grant applications received each month and traveled the world, pursuing partners for the foundation\u2019s work promoting solutions to global health crises.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, with her kids grown and Gates about to relinquish the day-to-day running of Microsoft to focus on the foundation, Stonesifer figured it was time for yet another new act. She resigned as CEO and took on a variety of projects, including a three-year stint chairing the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s Board of Regents and the chairmanship of a White House council that President Obama created to look for solutions to the problems of out-of-school, out-of-work 16- to 24-year-olds. (She still chairs it.)<\/p>\n<p>Stonesifer and her second husband, journalist Michael Kinsley, the founding editor of Slate, started dividing their time between Seattle and Washington, D.C., and last summer they decided to make the nation\u2019s capital their full-time home (in part because Stonesifer\u2019s daughter lives there, working for USAid). Then, last fall, she heard through a friend that Martha\u2019s Table was looking for a new CEO.<\/p>\n<p>It represented, among other things, a chance to get back to her philanthropic roots. Stonesifer\u2019s Irish-Catholic parents had nine kids and a deep commitment to helping the poor in their Indianapolis community, working in food banks and soup kitchens and taking foster children into their already crowded home. \u201cYou began realizing you were to be responsible for the community, literally right inside the house,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThere was even one foster girl named Patty, who shared my room. The biggest lesson of a big family is that it\u2019s not about you.\u201d Even while running the Gates Foundation, Stonesifer volunteered at a Seattle soup kitchen when she could, bringing her two teenagers along, just as her parents had brought her along to work.<\/p>\n<p>She certainly had other options. No doubt a national charity would have been thrilled to hire her. But after leaving Gates, Stonesifer says, she used the transition period \u201cto ask, prestige aside, title aside, what did I want to do all day?\u201d Her answer, delivered in her unaffected Midwestern style: \u201cWhat I wanted to do is to get close and understand and stand with families and individuals who are trying to address poverty at the community level, at the personal family level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stonesifer\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is one of a kind, but she is also a poster child for a broader movement among those approaching what used to be considered retirement age. Instead of dreaming of sitting on the beach, baby boomers, in their fantasies (and sometimes in reality, too), are shifting into personally meaningful work for their second or third act.<\/p>\n<p>She points to other bersuccessful corporate types\u2013including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg\u2013who have gone on a career-shift path in one way or another, and reports running into lots of not-so-famous folks undertaking what she calls the \u201ctrusteeship\u201d period of life. \u201cWe will see more and more philanthropic second-acters going forward,\u201d she predicts.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/2013\/06\/05\/the-big-shift\/\">Sidebar: Tips For Moving Into The Non-Profit Sector<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Stonesifer is adamant, however, that her new job is not an example of another boomer trend: downshifting. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m downshifting because that\u2019s when you are slowing down,\u201d she says. To the contrary, her latest move is part of a lifelong determination to stay fully engaged and to move on if she\u2019s not. \u201cKeeping the neurons moving is what, to me, is full engagement,\u201d she adds. \u201cAccepting this job is really about immersing myself in ideas and information and experiences that really take everything I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A morning spent watching Stonesifer shows the meaning of full engagement. First up is a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting with a potential donor at Le Pain Quotidien (a moderately priced Belgian chain). Martha\u2019s Table receives about $4 million in cash and $2 million worth of food and clothing donations a year. But Stonesifer insists she won\u2019t be using her platinum-plated national contacts for fundraising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur gifts are running a little ahead of last year, but it is not because I am going through my Rolodex,\u201d she says. As a grassroots local charity, she explains, Martha\u2019s Table must be built on \u201cyear after year after year of support by community members\u201d who see it as \u201can important part of their trusteeship of being a citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before 9:00 she arrives at the charity\u2019s blocklong headquarters on 14th St. NW, just outside downtown D.C., and starts making the rounds, comfy in her $80 Tom\u2019s cotton-and-hemp ballet flats. (Besides being practical, the rubber-heeled shoes make a statement: Tom\u2019s pledges to give a pair of new shoes to a poor child for every pair you buy.)<\/p>\n<p>She visits with the babies, toddlers and preschoolers at the day care center within the facility. The educational component was a big part of the charity\u2019s draw for Stonesifer, who considers it key to breaking the cycle of poverty.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, there are 93 kids, almost all minority, in the program, which serves children from 3 months to 4 years. But in a city with 110,000 residents\u201330% of them children\u2013living in poverty, the need is greater, and this fall Martha\u2019s Table will use a government grant to boost enrollment to 119.<\/p>\n<p>The charity also runs an afterschool program for 250 older kids. In the summer they spend all day in a program with education, meals and a full plate of enrichment activities, ranging from trips to the National Archives and Mount Vernon to computer classes to tending a greenhouse garden. (Preteens are offered a program where they work with legal mentors and learn to debate issues.)<\/p>\n<p>Then Stonesifer heads down the hall to visit with what is, on that day, an all-female team of volunteer retirees chopping their way through 50-pound bags of carrots, onions and potatoes to make shepherd\u2019s pie for the night\u2019s meal. Martha\u2019s Table makes prodigious use of volunteers\u2013more than 10,000 annually, including schoolkids and the homeless as well as the Obamas and corporate CEOs. Yes, 10,000 sounds like a lot, but Martha\u2019s Table has spent years building ties to local churches and schools. (See box.)<\/p>\n<p>She zips across the Anacostia River to the opening of Martha\u2019s Outfitters, a thrift store in Washington\u2019s poorest quadrant. The store, the second of its kind the charity has opened, provides free clothing and housewares to low-income families referred by partner agencies such as Catholic Charities. It also sells donated items to raise funds.<\/p>\n<p>With the discipline of a former Microsoft exec, Stonesifer budgets her time carefully: She aims to spend a third of it working on broad issues related to child hunger in D.C. and nationally; a third on a strategic plan for the future of Martha\u2019s Table; and a third interacting with staffers, volunteers and clients.<\/p>\n<p>Given her Microsoft wealth, she takes no salary from Martha\u2019s Table, just as she took none from the Gates Foundation. She\u2019s also a longtime board member of Amazon.com, where directors are paid in stock grants; her current holdings in the e-commerce giant are worth more than $10 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was lucky that I had a lot of success really young,\u201d says Stonesifer. With a nod to the burdens of others, she notes that not having to worry about paying for her kids\u2019 college or her parents\u2019 care freed her to think about what matters to her. The place she has come to is summed up by a motto imprinted on her personal notepaper: \u201cIf you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Sidebar: Common Ground<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How does a relatively small nonprofit like Martha\u2019s Table bring in 10,000 volunteers a year?<\/p>\n<p>Call it commitment. Or smart marketing.<\/p>\n<p>Since its founding in 1980 by a sociology professor and a Jesuit priest, Martha\u2019s Table has engaged in relentless outreach: to the poor and homeless on one end, and to schools, churches, synagogues, workplaces, seniors groups and other sources of volunteers at the other.<\/p>\n<p>Martha\u2019s Table is now an institution, a Washington destination for visiting dignitaries and locals alike.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years volunteers have included President Obama and family; BET Chairman and CEO Debra Lee; Microsoft founder Bill Gates; and the wives of Mexican president Vicente Fox, President George W. Bush and Russian premier Boris Yeltsin. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Royal Bank of Canada and Exxon Mobil all regularly send workers. On Thanksgiving whole families descend on the place.<\/p>\n<p>The result: Besides feeding the poor, Martha\u2019s Table now feeds a fragile sense of community in what is by and large a transient and divided city.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>For more tips for moving into a job with meaning:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Follow me on Twitter,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/KerryHannon\">@KerryHannon<\/a>\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0the author of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1118203682?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=kerrhann-20&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=1118203682\">\u00a0Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy \u2026 And Pays the Bills<\/a>\u00a0(<a title=\"John Wiley &amp; Sons\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wiley.com\/\" rel=\"homepage\">John Wiley &amp; Sons<\/a>), available here\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/\">www.kerryhannon.com<\/a>. Check out my\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aarp.org\/work\/experts\/kerry-hannon\/\">column\u00a0<\/a>at\u00a0AARP. My weekly column \u00a0at\u00a0<a title=\"Public Broadcasting Service\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/\" rel=\"homepage\">PBS\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0NextAvenue.org is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nextavenue.org\/expert\/kerry-hannon\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>More Forbes fun!<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/2013\/06\/05\/the-big-shift\/\">The Big Shift<\/a><\/div>\n<div><cite><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kerry Hannon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3f21b8b227f89cf69f36f34d6a5ac60?s=40&amp;r=pg&amp;d=http%3A%2F%2Fb-i.forbesimg.com%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Favatars%2Fgeneric_profile_image_40.jpg\" \/><strong>Kerry Hannon<\/strong><\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n<div><cite><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/\">Contributor<\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/nextavenue\/2013\/05\/06\/why-you-need-to-love-your-job-more\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"168\" width=\"300\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/b-i.forbesimg.com\/nextavenue\/files\/2013\/05\/why_you_need_to_love_your_job_more-300x168.jpg?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/nextavenue\/2013\/05\/06\/why-you-need-to-love-your-job-more\/\">Why You Need To Love Your Job More<\/a><\/div>\n<div><cite><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kerry Hannon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3f21b8b227f89cf69f36f34d6a5ac60?s=40&amp;r=pg&amp;d=http%3A%2F%2Fb-i.forbesimg.com%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Favatars%2Fgeneric_profile_image_40.jpg\" \/><strong>Kerry Hannon<\/strong><\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n<div><cite><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/\">Contributor<\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/pictures\/eeli45fihk\/dont-make-rash-moves\/\">22 images<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/specials-images.forbes.com\/imageserve\/0bsB84f9HTaOW\/176x176.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/pictures\/eeli45fihk\/dont-make-rash-moves\/\">Photos:\u00a0How To Plan For A Second Career<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Ex-Microsoft Exec Living The Boomer Fantasy: Meaningful Work\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patty Stonesifer sits cross-legged on the floor of a preschool classroom, her hands dripping with purple watercolor paint as she makes small block prints with the help of a 4-year-old who expounds on the proper technique to dip and print. In a flash of pigtails the tiny tutor dashes across the room, slips into a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Ex-Microsoft Exec Living The Boomer Fantasy: Meaningful Work\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,20],"tags":[224,332,225,223,132],"class_list":["post-3136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boomers","category-career-change","tag-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation","tag-boomers","tag-marthas-table","tag-microsoft","tag-nonprofit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes2.gif?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YFQS-OA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3139,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions\/3139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}