Eleanor Marie Gates is the daughter of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Rebecca 'Becky' Gates. She has one sibling, a brother named Bradley Robert Gates. She earned a degree in journalism from Indiana University in 1997. In 2006, at age 31, she resided in Seattle, Washington, and was employed by Washington Mutual. By 2019, she served as Director of Volunteer Houston, a program of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston that connects volunteers with nonprofits; her professional email was egates@volunteerhouston.org. She participated in a fireside chat with her father at Volunteer Houston's 45th anniversary dinner in December 2019. She appears to have left the position by 2020. No public records of controversies, legal issues, or political activity were found.