Henley named vice chair at Oracle
Oracle Corp. executive Jeff Henley in a Business Times photo from 2005. (Business Times/Jeff Clark file photo)
Santa Barbara resident Jeff Henley will become vice chairman of the board of software giant Oracle Corp. as longtime CEO Larry Ellison steps down and become chairman.
Oracle announced Thursday that billionaire founder Ellison will be replaced by Mark Hurd and Safra Catz who will both have the CEO title. Ellison will formally be executive chairman and chief technology officer of the Redwood City-based company.
Henley had been the chief financial officer at Oracle for many years before the company split the chairman and CEO jobs, then held by Ellison. He played a key turnaround role at the business software firm, earning him a personal fortune worth at least $220 million, based on his stake in Oracle, that he has since used to finance his philanthropic endeavors, including large gifts to UC Santa Barbara.
Under the new structure, Oracle’s manufacturing, legal and finance departments will report to Catz while sales and services will report to Hurd.
Henley, who is on the national board of Boys & Girls Clubs, is a member of the Pacific Coast Business Times Business Hall of Fame. One of the region’s richest residents and a major education philanthropist, in 2012, he gave the largest-ever gift to UC Santa Barbara, a $50 million donation to its Institute for Energy Efficiency and College of Engineering.
