Richard Gates Kiely

Chair

Rich joined Gates Family Foundation as a Trustee in January 2021 and became Chair in January 2023. He is a member of the Gates Family’s fourth generation — the son of former Gates Family Foundation trustee Rich G. Kiely and mother Sandra — and grew up in rural areas of southern Wyoming and Arizona before moving to Colorado in 2008.

Rich is currently an associate for Holland & Hart, where he assists high net worth individuals and their families with trust and estate litigation to facilitate the smooth resolution of estate planning and wealth transfer disputes. He is also a Director at Bear Creek Inc. — a Gates Family-owned trust company — where he was elected by family members to provide board-level oversight of the private trust company operations and management. Prior to joining Holland & Hart, Rich was in private practice as a civil litigator at a prominent local firm, and most recently served as Vice President of Trusts for Colorado State Bank and Trust.

Rich holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado Law school, where he was was an associate member of the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy. He graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University in 2007 with a B.S. degree in aeronautical management, and spent two years working as a certified flight instructor for Mesa Airlines Pilot Development before attending law school. He also completed the Families in Business Program at Harvard University in 2007, and in 2012 completed  the Private Wealth Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Rich lives in Broomfield, Colorado, with his wife and two children.

Read an interview with Rich: “I think we’re set up to make some real change in the world“