As president and then CEO of Oracle, one of the world’s largest software companies, Safra Catz has helped shape the present and future of the computer world. Catz graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 before earning a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. She began working as a banker for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1986 and served as their senior vice president from 1994–1997 and then as managing director from 1997–1999. She joined the Oracle Corporation in 1999, joined the board of directors in 2001, became president in 2004, CFO in 2005, and co-CEO in 2011. During her tenure, Oracle has overtaken several rival companies and become a significant force in cloud-based computing. Since 2008, Catz has also served on the board of HSBC Group, one of the largest banking institutions in the world. Regularly ranked by Forbes and Fortune as one of the most powerful women in business, she was named the highest-paid woman in a Fortune 1000 company in 2011 by Fortune.