Women in Tech: Safra Catz

Ladies,

Let’s talk about Safra Catz. She is the current co CEO of Oracle Corporation which, if you aren’t familiar, is a company that specializes in database softwares and other enterprise programs. Her resume is stellar and at a time when women are used more as set dressings on other tech companies’ Boards of Directors, (I’m looking at you, Apple) it’s a powerful message Oracle is sending to the next generation of all the would be female CEO’s out there; Women can lead tech companies, too.

Here our the highlights of her career per Wikipedia and Oracle:

– Catz 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. She attended Harvard Law School her final year. She was a banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, joining in 1986. Catz served 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. She has been a non-executive director of Hyperion Solutions since April 14, 2007. She has been a member of the executive council of TechNet since March 14, 2013. She served as a director of PeopleSoft Inc. since December 30, 2004 and Stellent Inc. since December 12, 2006.

– She has been an executive at Oracle Corporation since April 1999, and a board member since 2001. In April 2011 she was named co-president and chief financial officer, reporting to founder/CEO Larry Ellison. On September 18, 2014 Oracle announced that Larry Ellison will step down as CEO and that Mark Hurd and Safra Catz have been named as the new CEOs.

– In 2009 she was ranked by Fortune as the 12th most powerful woman in business.
In 2009 she was also ranked by Forbes as the 16th most powerful business-woman. In 2014, she was ranked at #24. 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.

– In December 2016, it was announced that Catz would join the executive committee of the presidential transition team for Donald Trump, while continuing her position at Oracle. The move prompted the public resignation of Oracle executive George Polisner, who posted his resignation letter on LinkedIn and outlined concerns over Trump’s policies.