Anne Gates

Anne Gates has managed diverse teams across the globe for over thirty years. In 2017, she retired as president of MGA Entertainment, the largest privately held global toy company in the United States. Prior to that she spent more than twenty years at the Walt Disney Company in various roles, including as Executive Vice President and CFO of the Consumer Products Division, based in Los Angeles, and as Managing Director for Consumer Products Europe and Emerging Markets, based in London. In 2010, Anne Gates was named to the Power List of Britain’s 100 most influential Black people. Earlier in her career she worked in both the US and Europe for PepsiCo, Bear Stearns, and Bell Labs (Research).

Currently, Anne Gates is an active board director, spanning diverse industries. She is currently Chair of the Audit Committees at Kroger, Tapestry, Inc. and Cynosure (a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice owned company). As an audit committee financial expert, she also serves on the Audit and Risk Committee at Raymond James Financial. Additionally, she serves on the Public Responsibility Committee at Kroger and Governance and Nominations Committee at Tapestry, Inc. Previously, Ms. Gates was on the board of Super RTL (a German entertainment company).

Anne Gates is personally committed to the not-for-profit sector as well, focusing on improving education, equity, inclusion, and effective nonprofit financial stewardship. She engages with multiple nonprofit boards aligned with these goals. She is on the boards of Salzburg Global Seminar, Public Media Group SoCal (the major PBS affiliate in Southern California), the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and CADRE. She serves on the University of California, Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education Advisory Board, and the Board of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Anne Gates received her B.A. in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley, and her M.S. Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and post-graduate work at Columbia University. She has completed programs on Board Governance and Audit Committee effectiveness at both the Harvard Business School and Salzburg Global Seminar. She regularly contributes to panels and shares her experiences through speaking engagements, at places such as the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University Business School, and Columbia University Women’s Conference.