Safra Ada Catz (; born December 1961) is an Israeli-American billionaire banker and technology executive. She is the CEO of

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

. 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 A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

(CFO), reporting to founder

Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer a ...

. In September 2014, Oracle announced that Ellison would step down as CEO and that Mark Hurd and Catz had been named as joint CEOs. In September 2019, Catz became the sole CEO after Hurd resigned due to health issues.

Early life

Catz was born in December 1961 in

Holon Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...

, Israel, to Jewish parents. She moved from Israel to

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

at the age of six. Catz graduated from

Brookline High School Brookline High School is a four-year public high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline. As of the 2023–24 school year, 2117 students were enrolled in the high school, served by 191.8 teachers (on an ...

. She earned a bachelor's degree from the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1983 and a J.D. from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

in 1986.

Career

Catz was a banker at

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) was a U.S. investment bank founded by William H. Donaldson, Richard Jenrette, and Dan Lufkin in 1959. Its businesses included securities underwriting; sales and trading; investment and merchant banking; financi ...

, 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. 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. Catz joined Oracle Corporation in April 1999.Oracle Co-President Safra Catz Adds CFO Duties as Jeff Epstein Leaves
an April 25, 2011, article from allthingsd.com Catz became a member of the company's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

in October 2001 and president in early 2004. She is credited for having driven Oracle's 2005 efforts to acquire software rival

PeopleSoft PeopleSoft, Inc. was a company that provided human resource management systems (HRMS), financial management solutions (FMS), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise performance management (EPM) softw ...

in a $10.3 billion takeover.Safra Catz
from the ''Forbes'' 2005 list of The Most Powerful Women. 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. Mark Hurd joined her as co-president in 2010. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, stepped down as CEO in 2014, and made Mark Hurd co-CEO with Catz. In December 2019, Oracle stated that Catz would be the sole CEO after Hurd's death. In 2009 she was ranked by ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'' as the 12th most powerful woman in business. In 2009 she was ranked by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' as the 16th most powerful businesswoman. She was ranked 24th in 2014 and 17th in 2023. According to an Equilar analysis published by ''Fortune'', she was in 2011 the highest-paid woman among

Fortune 1000 {{location map+ , United States , float=right , width=400, relief=1 , caption=''Fortune'' 1000 company headquarters locations. Top 20 companies labeled, places= {{location map~ , United States , lat= 36.365378 , long= -94.217629 , label= Walmart, ...

companies, receiving an estimated US$51,695,742 in total remuneration. Catz is a lecturer in accounting at the

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective ...

. Catz was a director of

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

from 2008 to 2015. After the election of Donald Trump, Catz was one of several high-profile CEOs, including

Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Cook had previously been the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs. Cook joined ...

, Sheryl Sandberg and

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and clou ...

, invited to talk with the then president-elect about potentially taking up a position in the incoming administration. According to Bloomberg, she was considered for the post of U.S. Trade Representative or Director of National Intelligence. In 2016, Catz was the highest paid female CEO of any US company, earning $40.9 million after a 23% drop in her total compensation relative to 2015. In 2022, Catz's total compensation from Oracle was $138 million, making her the sixth highest paid CEO in the US that year. Catz was elected to the board of directors of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

in December 2017, effective February 2018. In March 2021 Catz garnered attention for her stock trading, for acquiring 2.25 million shares through the conversion of derivatives, before selling them on the open market at roughly double the price. In March 2022 she was appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council by

Secretary of Homeland Security The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...

Alejandro Mayorkas Alejandro Nicolas Mayorkas (born November 24, 1959) is an American attorney and government official who was the seventh United States secretary of homeland security, serving from 2021 until 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Mayorkas previ ...

She was ranked 11th on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in 2023.

Political involvement

During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Catz donated to the campaign of

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

. Following

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's victory in the 2016 election, Catz was named as a member of his transition team. During this period, media outlets frequently mentioned her as a potential appointee to a position in the Trump administration. ''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

'' reported that these included the positions of

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

and

United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Foreign trade of the United States, United States ...

. In 2018, she was reportedly on the shortlist to replace H. R. McMaster as National Security Advisor. During the 2018 election cycle, Catz donated over $150,000 to Republican-aligned groups and individuals, including Congressman

Devin Nunes Devin Gerald Nunes (; born October 1, 1973) is an American businessman and politician who serves as the Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board since January 20, 2025, and as chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technolog ...

. Together with her spouse, Catz contributed $250,000 to

's 2020 presidential campaign. Catz was a member of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) that was established in 2018 and issued its final report in March 2021. As a board member of The Walt Disney Company, Catz's objections to the gay character in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2022 film '' Strange World'' were so strong that she threatened to have then-Disney CEO

Bob Chapek Robert Alan Chapek (born 1959) is an American businessman and former media executive who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from 2020 to 2022. He joined Masimo's board of directors in 2024. Before becoming CEO, Ch ...

fired if the film was released.

Personal life

Catz has been married to Gal Tirosh, a former soccer coach, since 1997. They have two sons. She resides in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

References

External links

Official biographyTopics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catz, Safra Ada 1961 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American billionaires American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies American chief financial officers American computer businesspeople American corporate directors American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American technology chief executives American women bankers American bankers American women chief executives Brookline High School alumni Directors of The Walt Disney Company Female billionaires HSBC people Israeli women chief executive officers Israeli chief executives Israeli emigrants to the United States Israeli Jews Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Living people Oracle employees Businesspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts People from Holon Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Wharton School alumni Women chief financial officers 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen Proprietary technology salespersons