Ellison Promotes Two Oracle Execs

Oracle

Block, now executive vice president, North America Sales and Consulting, had headed up the vendor's consulting operations in the region. George Roberts, head of North America sales and Mark Barrenechea, in charge of applications market development, will both report to Block, according to an e-mail sent to employees by Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison. Both previously had reported directly to Ellison.

Rocha, who last year was tapped to head Oracle's support and outsourcing business, will now also head the Global Information Technology Group.

Both men are Oracle veterans. Block has been with the company for more than 16 years, Rocha for more than 13 years.

In his message, Ellison lauded Block's success with consulting last year "in an exceptionally difficult economic environment." The consulting group improved both profit margins and customer satisfaction, Ellison wrote.

Last year was indeed tough for Oracle and other tech companies. For its first fiscal 2003 quarter ending Aug. 31, Oracle saw its revenue decline 10 percent over last year's quarter to $2.03 billion and sales of new software licenses fall 23 percent to $549 million.

And the company's bread-and-butter database business faces stiffening competition from IBM and Microsoft. There are signs that Ellison, one of the more flamboyant high-tech executives, is pulling back from other activities to focus on business. Days after the earnings announcement, he resigned from Apple Computer's board.