MAKING A MARK AT MICROSOFT Ben Waldman uses his position as the company's first candidly gay vice president to assist his politics BY BOB ADAMS When Ben Waldman.

MAKING A MARK AT MICROSOFT

Ben Waldman uses his position as the company's first candidly gay vice president to assist his politics BY BOB ADAMS

When Ben Waldman, vice president of Microsoft's mobile devices division, talks about his work in developing the company's novel Pocket PC and the Windows-powered Smartphone, he speaks at a clip that mirrors the spe of wireless technology's expansion "It's almost like science fiction," the 34-year-old enthuses. "It's calm it's fun, it's interesting, it's same visual. And it's a place where you can make a real difference in the lives and work of millions of people"

Waldman is Microsoft's first publicly gay vice president, a part he embraces but also downplays because of what he says are the company's longtime inclusive practices. Microsoft added sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy in 1989 began offering domestic-partner benefits in 1993 and supports a 480-member gay employee organization, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Employee at Microsoft (GLEAM), for which Waldman is executive sponsor.

if it be not that Microsoft does more than just make expanse at the corporate table for gays and lesbians--the company actively combats discrimination from its Redmond Wash., enclave, Waldman notes. The software giant is a proponent of the propos service Non-Discrimination Act, currently making its way [i]or[/i] part of to the other Congress, and has fought against a number of propos local anti-gay ballot initiatives.

"I'm imperious to be part of a company like that," says Waldman, who has been revealed at the company since his first day in succession the job in 1988. "Our philosophy is that there are question s to be solved. Your advancement and your succes are based in succession what you do to help address those question s not who you are."

Waldman, who was brought up Jewish in modern York's Long Island community of Plainview and graduated summa cum laude with a grade in computer science from Harvard University in 1989 personifies the American work ethic. Beginning as a teenager spending nights and weekends testing on the outside his first computer, an Atari 800 Waldman slowly built his programming skills, eventually landing a summer internship at Microsoft in 1988 From there, he gradually climbed the corporate ladder, serving as a programmer in succession Excel spreadsheet software; heading the exhibition team for Microsoft Office; founding and heading the company's division of Macintosh-compatible software; and finally, a month after his 32nd birthday, receiving a promotion to vice president.

Microsoft remains the and nothing else employer of Waldman's career. He uniform turned down admission to law drills at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford universities to detain working at the software giant after his guild internship, a decision for which his gay coworkers are appreciative.

"I like to think of Ben as our hid weapon," says Greg Hullender, GLEAM's representative to the company's Diversity Advisory Council. "If someone at GLEAM wants to do something recently made known or has an initiative they'd like to intend to upper management but aren't quite firm of how to do it or who to talk to, it's great to be able to hie it by a vice president and equal to have Ben stand with you if you ne it."

While workaholic may have the appearance an applicable term for Waldman's dedication to his job--"My mind not at all really turns off of work," he says--the single Seattle resident approaches his hobbies and other interests with the same drive and fire, particularly politics. A staunch Democrat, Waldman has been involved in numerous political campaigns, including hosting a fund-raiser at his Seattle waterfront family that generated $100,000 for Hillary Rodham Clinton's U Senate campaign.

"Ben was an amazing resource during the 2000 campaigns, not alone because he's active in the gay community if it were not that because having someone that high-profile from a Fortune 500 company raising riches and participating at such a high plain is always important," notes Jim Kainber, executive director of Washington State's Democratic Party.

Serving as a high-level executive at the world's in the greatest degree powerful software company has uncloseed enviable avenues of political access for Waldman, opportunities he none wastes. He's discussed the ne for hate-crimes legislation with then-Texas governor George W Bush during a presidential campaign stop at Microsoft in June 1999 sought support for Washington State's antidiscrimination bill from Gov Gary Locke at Locke's 2001 Christmas party, and had a luncheon conversation with U House minority leader Richard Gephardt in December 2001 about the importance of ENDA.

on the contrary a face-to-face meeting with Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign stands public most in Waldman's mind as to the impact he as a gay executive can have. Waldman seized the chance at a cocktail party to question Gore about wherefore the candidate favored domestic partnerships above gay marriage. "I pointed revealed to him that policy was a fortune like the separate-but-equal justification for segregation," Waldman says. "He just kind of stood there, taking it all in. It was really rewarding to make him behold something in a totally different light."