Who is Philip Vaughn, the tech entrepreneur reportedly dating Melinda French Gates, 12 years his senior?

Philip Vaughn. Photo courtesy of Vaughn's LinkedIn

According to his LinkedIn profile, Vaughn, 48, worked at Microsoft from 1999 to 2008, starting as a senior consultant before becoming a group program manager, as reported by the South China Morning Post. Melinda, 60, also worked at Microsoft, where she met Bill, but left before the birth of their first child in 1996.

After leaving Microsoft, Vaughn served as a mentor at Techstars, a startup accelerator founded by Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado. In 2013, he launched Tavour, a Seattle-based craft beer delivery platform, and currently serves as its executive chairman.

Little is known about Vaughn’s personal life. Apart from his LinkedIn page, he appears to have no public social media presence.

Melinda and Vaughn were first photographed together on Oct. 30, 2024, stepping off a helicopter in New York City, U.S., while holding hands. The couple were later seen dining in Manhattan the same day, again hand in hand, according to Page Six.

They attracted further attention on April 13 when they were spotted smiling and holding hands on their way to a Broadway show in New York, People reported.

Melinda French Gates. Photo from Instagram

The following day, Melinda appeared on "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert to promote her memoir "The Next Day," where she confirmed she is in a "pretty great" relationship and said she is "very, very happy."

This marks Melinda’s first public romance since her 2021 divorce from Bill, ending their 27-year marriage. The former couple share three children: Jennifer, 29, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22.

Bill, 69, is now in a relationship with Paula Hurd, widow of Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd. He confirmed in a February interview on the Today show that the relationship is "serious."