The president and CFO of software group Oracle has become the sole CFO and one of two new executive councillors to join policy and political technology CEO network, TechNet.
Oracle’s Safra Catz, along with Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, were both appointed to the council in March. TechNet was founded in 1997 and aims to grow technology industries and economy through bipartisan relationships between technology leaders and policymakers in the US.
Catz and Mayer will sit alongside other high-profile technology CEOs and executives including Cisco chairman and CEO, John Chambers, EMC president, chairman and CEO, Joseph Tucci, and Google executive chairman, Eric Schmidt.
Catz was reappointed as Oracle’s CFO in April 2011 after first holding the post from 2005 to 2008, and has been president of the software giant since 2004. Oracle is one of the most acquisitive companies in the world, completing more than 80 purchases in the past six years valued at US$43bn including the high-profile [[artnid: 452245|Sun Microsystems deal]] in 2009. It has also seen earnings leap 20 per cent in the past five years.
Catz is also a member of the board of directors for HSBC Holdings. Mayer meanwhile, was appointed Yahoo’s CEO six months ago and recently made headlines for calling in all telecommuters in a bid to improve productivity across the group.
Among TechNet’s recent achievements was meeting with US President Barack Obama, and bipartisan leadership from the US House and Senate during its annual TechNet day to advocate for reforms to highly-skilled immigration this year.
“One of the biggest economic challenges facing our nation is the need for more qualified, highly-skilled professionals, domestic and foreign, who can create jobs and immediately contribute to and improve our economy,” wrote TechNet in a letter to President Obama signed by more than 100 technology executives.
The group is also focused on tax reform, cyber security and privacy.
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