Safra Catz - CEO of Oracle

Safra Catz is a self-made female billionaire and the CEO of Oracle Corporation. Catz started as an investment banker in 1986, later becoming a senior vice president for Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette in 1994-1997 and a managing director from 1997 to 1999. She started as an executive for Oracle in 1999, before being promoted to CFO in 2011, quickly becoming a joint CEO in 2014 with Mark Hurd, who later died making her the company’s sole CEO.
Catz was born in Holon, Israel in 1961, born to Jewish parents. Her mother was a survivor of the holocaust, while her father came from Romania. She and her parents moved to the United States when she was six. She graduated from Brookline High School and sought a bachelor's in business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she took part in the Chi Omega Sorority. Following her business degree, she pursued a law degree in Penn Carey Law, but Catz mentioned how she was thankful she chose Wall Street over law as it led her to Oracle.
Her successes were not unnoticed as she was in Forbes' top 30 most powerful women in business since 2014 with the highest ranking of 12th. By 2016, Catz was considered a high-profile CEO among Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook. Catz was invited by the president-elect, Donald Trump, and offered her an administration position. She was considered for many other powerful roles, from U.S. Trade Representative or Director of National Intelligence, board of directors for Walt Disney, and Homeland Security Advisory Council for Mayorkas.
In 2017, Safra Catz was the highest-paid female CEO of any U.S. company earning $40.9 million. She took value into stock trading with acquisitions of 2.25 million shares, then sold them for nearly double the original price. The most recent trade with Oracle was with 1.8 million units sold for $172 million. The company usually trades just two times a year with the total value increasing every year, so you can take advantage of this steal.
This is just the facts of Catz‘s successes, but how did she get there? Her leadership in the business world is quiet, especially in her career at Oracle. She doesn't put herself in the public spotlight like most other executives as she rarely does interviews. In the few interviews she has done she offered insight into achieving success. Catz tells us that executives have a lot of expectations but as long as you listen and take accountability for your mistakes, the position will become fitting. She also mentions that women should start something of their own for leadership roles and break these generational challenges by looking at gender shortly. The former president of her sorority, Cho Omega commented on her quiet leadership and how it's not uncommon for her. She took her academic career very strictly and didn’t partake in leadership roles for her sorority, but was known to be very supportive.
People who know Catz mentioned that she never let her title define her as a person, she was very humble and frugal. Even after being named one of the wealthiest powerful women in the business world, she remains family-oriented and down to earth.