BILL GATES ADDRESSES THE ECONOMIC CLUB OF NEW YORK
For Immediate Release
March 27, 2025 - New York, NY American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC), Avara Pharmaceuticals and their invited guests joined a private conversation on March 27, 2025 featuring Bill Gates, Co-Founder of Microsoft and the Gates Foundation. Interviewed by Adi Ignatius, Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review, Bill spoke about his new memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, offering a candid reflection on his journey from a curious child in Seattle to the co-founder of Microsoft. In this event hosted by the Economic Club of New York, Bill Gates shared personal stories about his early passion for computing, the challenges he faced, and the pivotal moments that shaped his path as an innovator and entrepreneur. He described himself variously as a precocious, rebellious, and often contentious child,
In addition to helping to underwrite the event, AIAC and Avara arranged for its clients and colleagues to receive Bill Gates’ memoir following the interview.
L. M. Levie, Chairman of AIAC noted, “AIAC and Avara were delighted to welcome our dear friends to this remarkable discussion with Bill Gates, the most celebrated and accomplished entrepreneur and philanthropist of our era. As the leader of the digital revolution and of the largest private philanthropic foundation in the world, Bill’s impact is not just immense, it is beyond measure, woven into the very fabric of progress and offering hope for many generations to come.”
Mr. Levie continued, “This marks Bill’s second appearance in recent years at the Economic Club of New York. At the memorable Peter G. Peterson Leadership Award Dinner in his honor on December 18, 2023, our distinguished guests heard Bill offer his views on business, philanthropy, the Covid 19 pandemic, and his recent investments in fission and fusion power generation technologies. Today, Bill provided us a rare and astonishingly intimate glimpse into his earliest memories, attitudes, ambitions, and friendships which culminated in his co-founding of Microsoft. We are deeply grateful to Bill for his introspection, candor, warmth, and humor. It was a genuinely moving experience for us.”
AIAC and Avara Pharmaceutical Services are corporate supporters of the Economic Club of New York. Mr. Levie is a Member of the Economic Club of New York, its Centennial Society and its Legacy Society. AIAC and its affiliates are also donors to Gates Philanthropy Partners.
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About Bill Gates
As Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates shapes and approves foundation strategies, advocates for the foundation’s issues, and sets the organization’s overall direction. He works with grantees and partners to further the foundation’s goal of improving equity in the United States and around the world.
Bill co-founded Microsoft Corporation in 1975 with Paul Allen and led the company to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. In 2008, Bill transitioned to focus full-time on the foundation’s work. Through his private office, Gates Ventures, he pursues his work in climate change and clean energy innovation, Alzheimer’s research and other healthcare issues, interdisciplinary education, and technology. He is also the founder of Breakthrough Energy, which works to address climate change by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, big thinkers, and clean technologies.
In 2010, Bill, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the world’s wealthiest families and individuals to publicly commit more than half of their wealth to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations during their lifetime or in their will.
Bill grew up in Seattle with two sisters. His late father, William H. Gates Sr., was an attorney and civic leader who served as a co-chair of the foundation from 2000 to 2020 His late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington Regent, and Chair of United Way International. Bill has three children and one grandchild.
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About Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates
In Source Code: My Beginnings, Bill Gates offers a candid exploration of his formative years, detailing the experiences and influences that shaped his path to co-founding Microsoft. This memoir, the first in a planned trilogy, spans from Gates's childhood in Seattle to the pivotal moment in 1975 when he and Paul Allen established Microsoft
Gates reflects on his early fascination with systems and logic, recalling how games like gin rummy and sevens captivated him as a child, laying the groundwork for his analytical mindset. His narrative delves into his time at Lakeside School, where access to a Teletype terminal ignited his passion for programming and led to significant friendships, notably with Paul Allen. The memoir also touches on personal challenges, including the tragic loss of his close friend Kent Evans and his complex relationship with his parents, who sought therapy to better understand his rebellious nature.
Throughout the book, Gates exhibits a self-deprecating tone, acknowledging his social awkwardness and intense focus, traits he suggests might place him on the autism spectrum today. He candidly discusses his relentless drive, which sometimes strained personal relationships, and shares anecdotes that reveal a blend of youthful arrogance and genuine curiosity.
Critics have noted the memoir's introspective nature. The Financial Times highlights Gates's willingness to address his insecurities and competitive spirit, offering readers a nuanced portrait of his early life. Meanwhile, The Guardian praises the book's wry self-awareness, contrasting Gates's reflective approach with the bravado often associated with tech entrepreneurs.
The memoir serves as a valuable window into the mind of a young technologist whose innovations would later reshape the world.
For further information, please see:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/books/review/source-code-bill-gates.html
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-gates/source-code/
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, AIAC companiesare exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for the construction of major airports, schools, hospitals, performing arts and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, signage and illumination structures in North America, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary. AIAC affiliate, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen GmbH, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance, emergency portable power generators utilized in global conflict zones and during natural disasters.
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, exploration, and the performing arts. The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
L. M. Levie, Chairman of AIAC, is a Member of the Centennial Society and Legacy Society of the Economic Club of New York and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Explorers Club.
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, and the Trilateral Commission.
For further information, please see:
HTTPS://WWW.AIAC.COM/OUR-VALUES
About Avara Pharmaceutical Services
Avara Pharmaceutical Services is a global leader in contract manufacturing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. With campuses in Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Norman, Oklahoma; and Liscate, Italy, Avara serves 40 countries, producing a wide range of critical medications, including oral solid doses and injectable pharmaceuticals.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Avara played a key role in manufacturing essential treatments. In 2021, Avara Norman produced the active pharmaceutical ingredients for Remdesivir, a leading COVID-19 treatment. Avara Liscate manufactured Nimbex for AbbVie from 2020 to 2022 and Adrenaline for Pfizer from 2020 to 2024, both vital respiratory drugs for COVID-19 patients. Avara’s state-of-the-art facilities ensure compliance with global regulatory standards and enable efficient production processes. Committed to sustainability, Avara invests in advanced manufacturing techniques and environmental initiatives. Trusted by clients such as Aspen, AbbVie, Astellas, Bausch & Lomb, Genentech-Roche, Merck, Organon, Pfizer, SK Life, and others, Avara tailors its services to meet unique client needs.
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About the Economic Club of New York
Founded in 1907, the Economic Club of New York is the premier forum for discussion on a wide range of issues facing New York City, the United States, and the world. The Club welcomes preeminent thought leaders from across the globe and from the public and private sectors to speak on complex issues ranging from public policy and economic regulation to tech disruption. Nonpolitical, nonpartisan, and nonprofit, the Club promotes no agenda and takes no sides on issues, encouraging speakers and members to engage openly in thoughtful discussions.
The Economic Club comprises individual members, drawing from the senior leadership of many prominent corporate and financial organizations based in the metropolitan area. The Club has hosted speakers who are experts in their respective fields and who drive the conversations that shape the world’s future.
Past speakers include leaders of Fortune Global 500 companies and multiple U.S. presidents, including Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. International heads of state such as Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, and Yitzhak Rabin have addressed the Club. In recent
months, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. Federal Reserve System Chair Jerome Powell, Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates, JPMorgan Chair Jamie Dimon, U.S. Secretaries of Treasury Janet Yellen and Scott Bessent, and Citadel Founder and Chair Ken Griffin have addressed the Club.
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Media Contact:
Isabel Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+ 1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com