Israeli-Born Tech CEO Joins Trump Transition Team

Safra Catz

By Nathan Guttman December 15, 2016

Could Israeli-born businesswoman Safra Catz be on her way to the Trump administration?

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday added Catz, co-CEO of Oracle, to his transition team executive committee. It’s a group leading the process of filling top administration positions in preparation to Trump’s January 20 inauguration.

Catz was born in Israel but moved to the United States with her family as a child. She worked as an investment banker and scaled the ranks in finance and business. This year Fortune Magazine listed her as the 10th most powerful woman in business in the U.S. Oracle is a California-based maker of business software.

On Wednesday Catz and other high tech executives met with Trump at his New York headquarters. “I plan to tell the president-elect that we are with him and will help in any way we can,” Catz said before the meeting. “If he can reform the tax code, reduce regulation and negotiate better trade deals, the U.S. technology industry will be stronger and more competitive than ever.”

Catz met with Trump last month, but was not named for any cabinet position.

She will remain in her position at Oracle, Reuters reports.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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