The Salesforce board of directors is an exceptional group of individuals who have helped, advised, and established many of the premier companies of Silicon Valley.
The current board of directors at Salesforce is comprised of:
- Marc Benioff, Chairman & CEO
- Keith Block, Vice Chairman and President
- Craig Conway, Former CEO, PeopleSoft
- Alan Hassenfeld, Director, Hasbro, Inc.
- Colin Powell, General, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Sanford Robertson, Principal, Francisco Partners
- John V. Roos, Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
- Larry Tomlinson, Former Senior Vice President, Treasurer, Hewlett-Packard
- Robin L. Washington, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Gilead Sciences Inc.
- Maynard Webb, Chairman, Yahoo! Inc.
- Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube
Marc Benioff
Chairman & CEO
Marc Benioff is chairman and CEO of Salesforce. One of the pioneers of cloud computing, Benioff founded the company in 1999 with a vision to create an on-demand, information management service to replace traditional enterprise software technology. Under his leadership, Salesforce has grown from a groundbreaking idea into the fastest growing top ten software company in the world and the largest customer relationship management (CRM) company.
Salesforce’s mobile, social and connected cloud technologies help companies create deeper, more meaningful connections with their customers. For its revolutionary approach, Salesforce has been named the World’s Most Innovative Company four years in a row by
Forbes Magazine.
Fortune Magazine named Salesforce as the World’s Most Admired Company in the software industry two years in a row, and ranked the company #7 among the World’s Best Places to Work.
Benioff has been widely recognized for his visionary leadership and pioneering innovation. He was named Businessperson of the Year by
Fortune readers, one of the Best CEOs in the World by
Barron’s, and he received
The Economist’s Innovation Award. He served as co-chairman of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee from 2003–2005.
Throughout his career, Benioff has evangelized a new model of integrated corporate philanthropy. In 2000, he launched the Salesforce Foundation and established the “1-1-1 model,” whereby the company contributes one percent of product, one percent of equity, and one percent of employee hours back to the communities it serves globally. Today, the Foundation has inspired other leading corporations to adopt the 1-1-1 model. Benioff has focused his personal philanthropy on advancing children’s health care through UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.
Benioff is a 35-year veteran of the software industry. Prior to launching Salesforce, he spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation. He founded his first company, Liberty Software, which created video games, at the age of 15. He also worked as an assembly language programmer in
Apple Computer’s Macintosh Division during his college years. Benioff received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1986 and an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2014 from the University of Southern California.
He is the author of three books, including the national best-seller,
Behind the Cloud.
Keith Block
Vice Chairman and President
As Vice Chairman, a member of the Board of Directors and President of Salesforce, Keith Block leads the company’s Distribution Organization, which includes global sales, alliances and channels, customer support, and consulting services. With a focus on customer transformation and building long-term relationships, Block has managed world-class sales, consulting and engineering teams for nearly 30 years.
At Salesforce, he is tasked with driving the company’s next decade of growth by expanding Salesforce’s high-performing sales organization, growing its market-leading alliances and channels program, extending the company further into international markets, and applying Salesforce’s award-winning platform to key industries, such as healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing and more.
Prior to joining Salesforce, Block served as Oracle’s executive vice president of North America Sales and Consulting, leading an 11,000-person team and building a multi-billion dollar sales business unit that achieved record revenue and margin during his tenure. He began his career at
Booz Allen Hamilton as a senior consultant to Air Force executives.
Block currently serves on Salesforce’s Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees at the Concord Museum, the Advisory Board at Carnegie-Mellon University Heinz Graduate School, the President’s Advisory Council and Board of Trustees for Carnegie Mellon University.
Block holds an Master’s of Science degree in Management and Policy Analysis and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Information Systems from Carnegie-Mellon University
Craig Conway
Former CEO, PeopleSoft
Craig Conway has enjoyed one of the most distinguished and successful careers in the technology industry. He has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Managers by
BusinessWeek, one of the Ten Most Influential People In High Technology by , and one of the Fifty Most Powerful People in Networking by
NetworkWorld.
As president and chief executive officer, Conway has led several technology companies to success including most recently, PeopleSoft. Conway joined PeopleSoft in 1999 and began one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the technology industry. His vision to develop the industry's first pure Internet architecture, determination to expand into new products and markets, and intense focus on execution drove PeopleSoft to become the world's second-largest provider of business software. In 2002
Fortune magazine named PeopleSoft the Second Most Admired Company, and
Forbes magazine named PeopleSoft one of Five Overachieving Companies.
On June 2, 2003, Conway announced the acquisition of JD Edwards, making
PeopleSoft a $2.9 billion company with 12,000 customers in 150 countries and starting a wave of industry consolidation. Four days later PeopleSoft itself became a takeover target by Oracle, and so began the longest hostile takeover attempt in history. Eighteen months later PeopleSoft was sold for $10.3 billion, almost $4 billion more than Oracle's initial offer and $7 billion more than the value of the company when Conway took over as CEO.
Conway has also served as president and CEO of TGV Software and One Touch Systems. He has also held executive management positions at a variety of leading technology companies including executive vice president at Oracle.
Alan Hassenfeld
Director, Hasbro, Inc.
Alan Hassenfeld is a director of Hasbro, a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment with $2.9 billion in revenues and an impressive blue-chip portfolio of familiar and popular brand names such as PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, and PARKER BROTHERS. Hassenfeld began his career at Hasbro in 1970. He was appointed vice president of marketing and sales in 1978, became the president of the company in 1984, and received the titles of chairman and CEO in 1989. In May 2003, he passed on the responsibilities of CEO in order to fully concentrate on his position as chairman and served as chairman until February 2008. Hassenfeld sits on the board of the Salesforce Foundation as well as Hasbro's two philanthropic divisions, the Hasbro Charitable Trust and the Hasbro Children's Foundation. He is the former chairman of the Right Now! Coalition and Admiral of Rhode Island Commodores (a governor-appointed business advisory group). Hassenfeld is the recipient of the Honorary Doctor of Humanities Award from Bryant College and the Honorary Doctor of Business degree from Roger Williams University and Johnson and Wales University.
Colin Powell
General, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Colin Powell is a retired four star general and served for 35 years in the United States Army. He has served as U.S. National Security Advisor, Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he was the 65th Secretary of State of the United States. He is the recipient of numerous U.S. military awards as well as two Presidential Medals of Freedom. General Powell is a strategic limited partner at
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. General Powell is the Chair of the Board of Visitors of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at his alma mater, the City College of New York. The Powell School was inaugurated May of 2013 and stands alongside CCNY’s other premiere named schools. He is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the America’s Promise Alliance, dedicated to forging a strong and effective partnership alliance committed to seeing that children have the fundamental resources they need to succeed.
Sanford Robertson
Principal, Francisco Partners
Sanford Robertson pioneered the creation of West Coast technology banking as an industry in the late 1960s and has remained one of the industry's most renowned participants. He served as vice president and director at Smith Barney before founding a firm that later became Montgomery Securities. In 1978, he founded Robertson, Stephens & Co, one of the most significant underwriters of IPOs, mergers, and acquisitions. After selling the company in 1998, he founded Francisco Partners, the world's largest technology-focused private equity fund. Robertson has had significant financing involvement in over 500 growth technology companies, including 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS), America Online (NYSE: AOL), Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Ascend, Dell Computer (NASDAQ: DELL), E*Trade (NYSE: ET),
Siebel, and
Sun (NASDAQ: SUNW). He serves on the boards of
Dolby Laboratories, Pain Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTIE), and the
Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving, as well as on the President's Board at the University of Michigan.
John V. Roos
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
John Roos is a former United States Ambassador to Japan and a former technology lawyer. Before accepting the ambassadorship from President Barack Obama, Roos was the CEO of Silicon Valley-based law firm
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
Roos served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2009 to 2013, a historic period in U.S.-Japan relations where he played a key role in managing the relationship through major transitions of government. Roos led the American mission to support Japan's response to the devastating 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis on March 11, 2011. In October 2011, citing his tireless and effective leadership after March 11, the Department of State awarded Roos the prestigious Sue E. Cobb 2011 Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service.
Prior to his ambassadorship, Roos served as Chief Executive Officer and Senior Partner at
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the leading law firm in the U.S. in the representation of technology, life sciences, and emerging growth companies. There he helped lead his firm during the waves of innovation in Silicon Valley, from the growth of software and communications, to the Internet Age, to the emergence of biotechnology, clean technology and renewable energy, to the social media revolution.
Roos grew up in San Francisco and attended Stanford University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors and Distinction, and Stanford Law School, earning his Juris Doctor in 1980, achieving Order of the Coif. Throughout his career, Roos has been active in public service, serving on a public school board in California from 1991 to 1999. Prior to becoming Ambassador to Japan, Roos served on the Stanford School of Education Dean's Advisory Board and on the Law School Dean's Advisory Council. He was elected to membership in the Stanford Associates for his long-standing volunteer service to the University.
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Maynard Webb
Chairman, Yahoo! Inc.
Maynard Webb is chairman of Yahoo! Inc and a director at Everwise and VISA. He has more than 30 years of experience developing and leading high-growth companies. Webb served as chief executive officer for LiveOps from 2006 to 2011. Prior to LiveOps, he was the chief operating officer at eBay from 2002 to 2006 and was responsible for the company-wide implementation of all business strategies. Previously, he served as president of eBay Technologies, where he was responsible for all engineering and technical operations at eBay, including product and technology strategy, engineering, architecture, site operations, and customer support.
Prior to joining eBay, Webb was senior vice president and chief information officer at Gateway, where he contributed to the company's rapid expansion and Internet-enabled business operations. In years prior, he has also worked at Quantum, Thomas-Conrad Corporation, Bay Networks, and IBM. Webb is the founder of the Webb Investment Network, an early-stage venture capital firm in Los Gatos, Calif., and co-founder of Everwise, a cloud-based mentoring program.
Webb received a bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University.
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Susan Wojcicki
CEO, YouTube
Susan Wojcicki is CEO of YouTube, the world’s most popular digital video platform used by a billion people across the globe to access information, share video, and shape culture. An early champion of online video, Wojcicki was instrumental in Google's 2006 acquisition of YouTube. She now oversees YouTube's content and business operations, engineering, and product development.
Prior to joining YouTube in February 2014, Wojcicki was senior vice president of Advertising & Commerce at Google, where she oversaw the design and engineering of AdWords,
AdSense, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics. She joined Google in 1999 as the company's first marketing manager and led the initial development of several key consumer products, including Google Images and Google Books. In 2002, Wojcicki began working on Google’s advertising products and over the next 12 years she led teams that helped define the vision and direction of Google’s monetization platforms.
Wojcicki graduated with honors from Harvard University, holds a master's in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MBA from UCLA.
