Safra Catz

Safra Catz
Born	Safra Ada Catz December 1961
Birthplace	Holon, Israel
Occupation	Business executive
Title	Executive Vice Chair of Oracle Corporation
Known for	CEO of Oracle Corporation (2014–2025)
Education	University of Pennsylvania (BA, JD)
Children	2

Safra Ada Catz (Template:Lang-he; born December 1961) is an Israeli-American business executive who served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's largest enterprise software and cloud computing companies. Born in Holon, Israel, Catz immigrated to the United States as a child and built a career that took her from Wall Street investment banking to the highest ranks of Silicon Valley. She joined Oracle in April 1999 and rose through a succession of leadership roles, including co-president and chief financial officer (CFO), before being named joint CEO alongside Mark Hurd in September 2014 upon the decision of Oracle founder Larry Ellison to step aside from the chief executive role. After Hurd's resignation due to health issues in 2019, Catz became Oracle's sole CEO, a position she held until September 2025, when the company announced her transition to the role of executive vice chair of the board of directors. Recognized as one of the highest-paid female executives in the United States and consistently ranked among the most powerful women in global business by Forbes, Catz has been a central figure in Oracle's growth strategy, overseeing dozens of major acquisitions and the company's transition to cloud computing.

Early Life

Safra Ada Catz was born in December 1961 in Holon, a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel. Her family later immigrated to the United States, where she was raised. Catz has spoken about her Romanian family origins, revealing her heritage during business engagements in Romania. She grew up in a household with ties to the broader Jewish diaspora, and her background has been noted in coverage identifying her as one of the most prominent Jewish women in the business world.

Details about Catz's childhood in the United States remain relatively limited in the public record. What is known is that she pursued an academically rigorous path that eventually led her to the Ivy League and a dual focus on both liberal arts and law — a trajectory that would prove instrumental in preparing her for a career that blended legal acumen, financial expertise, and corporate strategy.

Education

Catz attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. She subsequently obtained her Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her legal training provided a foundation for the deal-making and regulatory navigation that would characterize much of her professional career. Catz has also held an association with Stanford University, where she has served as a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Career

Investment Banking

Before joining Oracle, Catz worked in investment banking, an experience that honed her skills in mergers, acquisitions, and corporate finance. A 2009 profile in Fortune described her as "the enforcer" at Oracle, a characterization rooted in part in the discipline and transactional expertise she carried over from her years on Wall Street. Her banking background was instrumental in shaping the aggressive acquisition strategy that Oracle would pursue in the 2000s and 2010s.

Oracle Corporation

Early Years and Rise (1999–2011)

Catz joined Oracle Corporation in April 1999 as a senior vice president. She quickly established herself within the company's leadership, and by 2001 she had been appointed to Oracle's board of directors. Her role expanded significantly over the following decade as she became a key architect of Oracle's acquisition-driven growth strategy. Under her leadership of Oracle's deal-making operations, the company executed a series of high-profile acquisitions that transformed it from a database software company into a broad enterprise technology conglomerate.

A 2006 report by the International Herald Tribune highlighted Oracle's aggressive posture in the technology acquisition market during this period, with Catz playing a central role in identifying and executing transactions. Her ability to structure deals, negotiate with target companies, and integrate acquisitions into Oracle's operations earned her increasing authority within the organization.

In April 2011, Catz was named co-president and chief financial officer of Oracle, reporting directly to founder and then-CEO Larry Ellison. She assumed the CFO role after the departure of Jeff Epstein from that position. The dual title underscored the breadth of her responsibilities, which at that point encompassed both day-to-day operational management and the company's financial strategy. Overseeing Oracle's finances gave Catz direct control over resource allocation, capital expenditure decisions, and the financial engineering behind the company's continued acquisition program.

Co-CEO (2014–2019)

In September 2014, Oracle announced a major leadership transition. Larry Ellison, who had founded the company in 1977 and served as its CEO for decades, stepped down from the chief executive role to become executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO). In his place, the Oracle board named Safra Catz and Mark Hurd as joint CEOs. The co-CEO structure was unusual in corporate America but reflected the distinct and complementary skill sets of the two executives: Catz was the financial and operational strategist, while Hurd, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, focused on sales, marketing, and customer relationships.

During this period, Oracle accelerated its transition toward cloud computing, a shift that required both massive investment in infrastructure and a fundamental rethinking of the company's business model. Catz played a central role in this transformation, overseeing the financial strategy that funded Oracle's cloud buildout while managing the company's legacy software business. The acquisition strategy also continued, with Oracle completing deals that bolstered its cloud portfolio and expanded its reach into new enterprise software markets.

Catz's compensation during this period reflected her stature within the company. CNN Money listed her among the 25 highest-paid women in corporate America in 2012. Forbes included her on its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful Women multiple times, reflecting her influence not just within Oracle but across the broader technology industry.

Sole CEO (2019–2025)

In September 2019, Mark Hurd resigned as co-CEO due to health issues. He died the following month. Catz became Oracle's sole chief executive officer, taking on full responsibility for the company's strategy and operations at a time of intensifying competition in the cloud computing market.

Under Catz's sole leadership, Oracle invested heavily in its cloud infrastructure business, positioning itself as a competitor to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The company's strategy increasingly centered on artificial intelligence and enterprise cloud services. Oracle's financial performance during this period drew attention from analysts and investors; reporting by Cloud Wars in June 2025 highlighted guidance issued by Ellison and Catz that exceeded market expectations.

Catz also navigated Oracle through significant competitive challenges. Rivals such as Workday sought to erode Oracle's position in the human resources software market, with Workday reportedly pursuing a plan to outsell Oracle in that segment. Under Catz's leadership, Oracle responded by deepening its cloud offerings and pursuing strategic investments in AI-driven enterprise applications.

Transition to Executive Vice Chair (2025)

On September 22, 2025, Oracle announced that Catz would step down as CEO and be appointed executive vice chair of the board of directors. The CEO role was split between Clay Magouyrk, who had led Oracle's cloud infrastructure division, and Mike Sicilia, who had headed Oracle's health sciences and industry applications units. The Financial Times reported that the leadership change reflected Oracle's desire to sharpen its focus on cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence under executives with deep technical expertise in those areas.

Analysis published by Diginomica characterized Catz as "the safest of safe pairs of hands" and noted that the transition was a planned succession rather than a crisis-driven departure, with Larry Ellison remaining as executive chairman and CTO. Business Chief reported on the rationale behind the co-CEO structure, noting Oracle's expanding business lines and the need for dedicated executive leadership across its cloud and applications divisions.

Healthcare IT News reported that the restructuring reflected Oracle's redoubled focus on artificial intelligence and that Catz's move to the board preserved continuity in corporate governance while enabling a new operational focus.

In the months following the announcement, Oracle's stock experienced a significant decline. By December 2025, CTech reported that Oracle's shares had fallen approximately 40% since the CEO transition was announced, with quarterly earnings failing to fully reassure investors.

Board Memberships

In addition to her roles at Oracle, Catz has served on the boards of other major corporations. In December 2017, she was appointed to the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. She was also named as a board member of HSBC Holdings during a broader board restructuring at the banking group.

Political Engagement

In November 2016, following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, Fortune reported that Catz met with members of the Trump transition team and was discussed as a potential candidate for an administration post. Bloomberg News subsequently reported in April 2017 that the Trump team had spoken with Catz about a role in the administration, though she ultimately remained at Oracle.

Teaching

Catz has served as a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she has been listed among the school's faculty. Her teaching involvement reflects a broader engagement with business education and the development of future corporate leaders.

Personal Life

Catz holds United States citizenship, having been born in Israel and raised in the United States. She has two children. She has spoken publicly about her family's Romanian origins during business visits to Romania, where Oracle maintains significant operations.

Catz has been identified as one of the most prominent Jewish women in global business, a distinction noted by several publications covering her career.

Recognition

Throughout her career, Catz has received recognition as one of the most influential and highest-compensated women in the technology industry and in corporate America more broadly.

Forbes has repeatedly named her to its list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. She appeared on the 2009 edition of the list and has been featured on the ranking in subsequent years. In 2005, Forbes also included her in its coverage of top-compensated executives.

CNN Money and Fortune ranked Catz among the 25 highest-paid women in American business in 2012, reflecting both her base compensation and stock-based awards at Oracle.

Her profile in the Wall Street Journal's executive database has tracked her insider transactions and compensation at Oracle over the years, providing a public record of her financial relationship with the company.

Her appointment to the boards of The Walt Disney Company and HSBC served as further markers of her standing in the global business community, reflecting the value placed on her financial and operational expertise by major international corporations outside the technology sector.

Legacy

Safra Catz's tenure at Oracle spans more than a quarter century, during which the company grew from a database software firm into one of the world's largest enterprise technology and cloud computing companies. Her career is closely associated with Oracle's acquisition-driven growth strategy — she personally oversaw dozens of transactions that reshaped the company's product portfolio and market position.

As one of the few women to serve as sole CEO of a major technology company, Catz's career has been noted in discussions of gender representation in corporate leadership. Publications such as Infobae and Forbes have highlighted her as a model for women in the technology sector, particularly as a working mother who reached the top of one of the world's largest software companies.

The leadership transition announced in September 2025 marked the end of Catz's 11-year tenure as CEO (first as co-CEO and then as sole CEO) but not her departure from Oracle. Her appointment as executive vice chair of the board ensured continued involvement in corporate governance and strategic oversight. The market's reaction to her departure — a roughly 40% decline in Oracle's stock price in the three months following the announcement — underscored the degree to which investors had associated Oracle's strategic direction and financial discipline with her leadership.

Her relationship with Oracle founder Larry Ellison has been a defining feature of her career. Described by Diginomica as a trusted operational leader who complemented Ellison's technology vision, Catz functioned as the executive who translated strategic ambition into financial results. Her dual background in law and investment banking equipped her for this role, enabling her to navigate complex deal structures, regulatory environments, and financial markets with equal facility.