Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Forward 50 2014

Safra Catz

As an Israeli-American child growing up in Massachusetts, Safra Catz dreamed of working at an ice cream store. But fate had other plans.

In September, Catz, 52, was appointed co-CEO of Oracle, the software giant, after longtime CEO Larry Ellison announced he was stepping down. Catz oversees finance, operations and legal affairs, while fellow CEO Mark Hurd focuses on marketing, sales and strategy.

Placing two CEOs in the boardroom is an unusual approach for a major corporation, but there is little that is usual about Oracle — or the woman who now co-leads it. Founded by Ellison in 1977, Oracle became a pioneer in database software and survived the rise of PCs, the Internet and smartphones. Hired in 1999, Catz quickly rose through the ranks to become company president, CFO and Ellison’s unofficial consigliere.

Even before her promotion, Catz was considered one of America’s most powerful women, and last year she was America’s highest paid female executive, according to Forbes. Known for her grit and aversion to publicity, Catz has worked wonders for Oracle. Her efforts have included overseeing the company’s slew of aggressive — and successful — mergers and acquisitions. This past summer, Oracle announced a $5.3 billion buyout of MICROS Systems, a hospitality and retail technology company.

Catz, who spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 2013 national summit, was born in Holon, Israel, to a physicist father and a mother who had survived the Holocaust. At the age of 6, Catz moved with her family to Massachusetts, but she won’t forget her birthplace: Her husband, Gal Tirosh, is Israeli.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.