Safra Catz
Safra A. Catz (Hebrew: צפרא כץ, born December 1, 1961) is an Israeli-American billionaire banker and technology executive. She is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. She has been an executive at Oracle since April 1999, and a board member since 2001. In April 2011, she was named co-president and chief financial officer (CFO), reporting to founder Larry Ellison.[2] In September 2014, Oracle announced that Ellison would step down as CEO and that Mark Hurd and Catz had been named as joint CEOs.[3]
Safra Catz | |
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Catz in 2014 | |
Born | Holon, Israel | December 1, 1961
Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA, JD) |
Occupation | CEO of Oracle |
Net worth | US$1.1 billion (2019)[1] |
Spouse(s) | Gal Tirosh |
Children | 2 |
Early life
Catz was born in Holon, Israel,[4] to Jewish parents.[5][6] Her father was an immigrant from Romania.[7] She moved from Israel to Brookline, Massachusetts at the age of six.
Catz graduated from Brookline High School.[8] She earned a bachelor's degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1986.[4][9]
Career
Catz was a banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette,[10] serving as a managing director from February 1997 to March 1999 and a senior vice president from January 1994 to February 1997 and previously held various investment banking positions since 1986. In 1999, Catz joined Oracle as senior vice president. She has been a non-executive director of Oracle subsidiary Hyperion Solutions since April 2007.[11] She has been a member of the executive council of TechNet since March 2013. She was a director of PeopleSoft Inc since December 2004 and Stellent Inc. since December 2006.[12][13]
Catz joined Oracle Corporation in April 1999.[2] Catz became a member of the company's board of directors in October 2001 and president in early 2004.[2][14] She is credited for having driven Oracle's 2005 efforts to acquire software rival PeopleSoft in a $10.3 billion takeover.[10] Catz is also the company's CFO, serving temporarily in that role from November 2005 to September 2008, and from April 2011 to the present.[2] Mark Hurd joined her as co-president in 2010.[2]
In 2009 she was ranked by Fortune as the 12th most powerful woman in business.[8] In 2009 she was ranked by Forbes as the 16th most powerful businesswoman.[15] In 2014, she was ranked 24th.[16] According to an Equilar analysis published by Fortune, she was in 2011 the highest-paid woman among Fortune 1000 companies, receiving an estimated US$51,695,742 in total remuneration.[17]
Catz is a lecturer in accounting at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.[18] Catz was a director of HSBC Group from 2008 to 2015.[19]
After the election of Donald Trump, Catz was one of several high-profile CEOs, including Tim Cook, Sheryl Sandberg and Jeff Bezos, invited to talk with the then president-elect about potentially taking up a position in the incoming administration.[20] According to Bloomberg, she was considered for the post of U.S. Trade Representative or Director of National Intelligence.[20]
Catz is the highest paid female CEO of any U.S. company as of April 2017, earning $40.9 million after a 23% drop in her total compensation relative to 2016.[21]
Catz was elected to the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in December 2017, effective February 2018.[22]
Political involvement
During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Catz donated to the campaign of Marco Rubio.[23] She later served on President Trump's transition team,[24][25] and media outlets frequently mentioned her as a potential official in the Trump administration.[26][27][23] During the 2018 election cycle, Catz donated over $150,000 to Republican-aligned groups and individuals,[28] including Congressman Devin Nunes.[29] Catz donated $125,000 to Donald Trump's re-election campaign in May 2020.[30]
Personal life
Catz is married to Gal Tirosh and they have two sons.[4]
References
- "Safra Catz". Forbes.
- Oracle Co-President Safra Catz Adds CFO Duties as Jeff Epstein Leaves, an April 25, 2011 article from allthingsd.com
- "Oracle Board Appoints Larry Ellison Executive Chairman and CTO. Safra Catz and Mark Hurd Appointed CEO". Oracle Corporation. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
- Rochelle Garner (2006-12-19). "Heir apparent at Oracle is credited with growth strategy". International Herald Tribune.
- Ruth Eglash (August 23, 2012). "Jewish women who rule! (according to Forbes)". Jpost. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- Jewish Voice New York: "The World's Most Powerful Jewish Women" By Jen Levey September 5, 2012
- Chirileasa, Andrei (May 20, 2014). "Oracle CFO Safra Catz announces expansion outside Bucharest, reveals Romanian origins". Romania-Insider.com. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
- Lashinsky, Adam (September 28, 2009). "The Enforcer". Fortune. 160 (6): 117–124.
- "Oracle's enforcer – Safra Catz".
- Safra Catz from the Forbes 2005 list of The Most Powerful Women. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
- "ORCL Safra Ada Catz Insider Trades for Oracle Corp". marketwatch.com.
- Workday’s $10B plan to outsell Oracle. Accounting Today. https://www.accountingtoday.com/articles/workdays-10b-plan-to-outsell-oracle-in-hr-software
- Quiénes son las madres tecnológicas más poderosas del mundo, by Desiree Jaimovich. Infobae. https://www.infobae.com/tecno/2016/10/16/quienes-son-las-madres-tecnologicas-mas-poderosas-del-mundo/
- Safra A. Catz | Executive Biography from Oracle.com
- "The 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes.com. August 19, 2009.
- "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- "25 highest-paid women – Safra A. Catz". Fortune. CNNMoney. September 27, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
- "Stanford GSB: Safra A. Catz". Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- Szu Ping Chan and Tim Wallace (13 November 2015). "HSBC board shake-up brings former Diageo boss Paul Walsh aboard". Daily Telegraph.
- "Trump Team Talked to Oracle's Safra Catz About an Administration Post". Bloomberg.com. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- Keitz, Anders (2017-04-23). "Oracle's Safra Catz is Highest Paid Female CEO". TheStreet. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- James, Meg (December 7, 2017). "Disney adds two board members from tech world". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- Darrow, Barb (November 17, 2016). "Trump Is Considering This High-Tech Exec for Cabinet Post". Fortune. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- Conger, Kate. "Oracle CEO Safra Catz joins Trump Transition Team". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- Solon, Olivia (December 21, 2016). "Oracle executive publicly resigns after CEO joins Trump's transition team". The Guardian. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- Jaffe, Alexandra; Rafferty, Andrew (November 17, 2016). "Romney May Be in, Gingrich Out of Trump Cabinet". NBC News.
- "Report: Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz could replace McMaster as Trump's National Security Adviser". Silicon Valley Business Journal. March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- Reklaitis, Victor; Marriner, Katie (October 22, 2018). "How America's top CEOs are spending their own money on the midterm elections". Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- Markay, Lachlan; Stein, Sam (February 12, 2018). "The Silicon Valley Giant Bankrolling Devin Nunes". Daily Beast. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- "Browse Individual contributions". FEC.gov. Retrieved 2020-09-24.