New Oracle CFO Maxson Brings Energy Expertise To AI Buildout

‘Oracle has built extraordinary momentum at the intersection of cloud, AI and industry applications,’ says Hilary Maxson.

Oracle has hired a new permanent CFO with an energy and power background that appears to fit the database product giant’s infrastructure buildout to meet artificial intelligence demand.

Hilary Maxson, who left her role as executive vice president and group CFO at Schneider Electric to become Oracle CFO effective Monday, reports to Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk. She takes over responsibilities briefly held by Principal Financial Officer Doug Kehring.

Magouyrk and fellow Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia took over the vendor’s top spot while Kehring received additional financial oversight duties when former CEO Safra Catz—who also performed CFO duties—moved into the role of executive vice chair of the Oracle board of directors in September.

“Oracle has built extraordinary momentum at the intersection of cloud, AI and industry applications,” Maxson said in a statement Monday. “I’m excited to join at this pivotal moment, and I look forward to partnering with Clay, Mike and the broader leadership team to continue to invest with discipline and to translate this momentum into durable, long‑term value for customers and shareholders.”

Oracle Hires CFO From Schneider Electric

CRN has reached out to Austin, Texas-based Oracle and Rueil-Malmaison, France-based Schneider Electric for comment.

Rhos Dyke, founder and Oracle alliance practice lead for Acropolis Advisors, a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based solution provider, told CRN in a recent interview that Oracle has differentiated itself from other cloud infrastructure providers with a fully integrated technology portfolio from wall outlet to user interface, which should entice business customers more than buying a serious of products from AI upstarts—although Oracle products integrate with newer AI offerings on the market.

“The level of both vertical integration in terms of the Oracle stack itself, in terms of offerings, and then, secondly, the fact that AI is baked into their offerings is very exciting,” he said. “And partners that know how to help customers ... really deliver on the benefits that that architecture and capability offers are the ones that are going to really thrive.”

Maxson Brings Infrastructure Finance Expertise

As part of her hiring, Maxson, 48, will receive an annual base salary of $950,000 and be eligible for an annual performance-based bonus with a target of $2.5 million based on achievement of certain performance metrics, according to a federal filing by Oracle. That bonus will be prorated from her start date until Oracle’s fiscal year ends May 31. Oracle has also agreed to pay up to $250,000 of Maxson’s relocation costs for up to 12 months from her employment start date.

Maxson’s hiring comes as Oracle lays off thousands of employees, including engineers, managers, directors and other job titles in security, sales, the NetSuite division and other parts of the company.

Oracle’s NetSuite division has said to expect greater investments and focus on deal-level incentives, certification and training, program and other partner marketing and other channel budget areas over the next 12 months, according to CRN’s 2026 Partner Program Guide.

Magouyrk, who has spearheaded Oracle’s infrastructure buildout to meet growing demand for the cloud and database product giant’s AI portfolio, called Maxson a financial leader who matches the vendor’s culture of strong financial and operational discipline, according to a statement Monday. Oracle also hired Maxson for her experience scaling capital-intensive global organizations.

“Hilary’s experience spans industrial, infrastructure and software businesses—sectors where capital intensity and execution excellence are critical to success,” Magouyrk said.

With Maxson’s hiring, Kehring returns to his role of optimizing and accelerating go-to-market operations, according to the vendor.

Kehring’s title changed from executive vice president and principal financial officer to executive vice president of operations, according to his LinkedIn account, similar to the title he held for about 26 years with Oracle.

Maxson arrives at Oracle after about nine years with Schneider Electric, leaving with the executive vice president and group CFO title she held for about six years, according to her LinkedIn account.

Maxson played a key role driving performance, scaling operations and advancing the company’s strategic transformation from electrical equipment supplier into a digital energy technology partner for utilities, data centers and other segments, now reaching more than $45 billion in annual revenue from products spanning electrification, automation and digitalization, according to Oracle’s Monday statement.

She previously served as Schneider Electric’s senior vice president and CFO of energy management for about a year and senior vice president of finance and CFO of the vendor’s building and IT business.

Her resume includes about 12 years with energy company AES, leaving in 2017 as CFO of Asia.

Maxson doesn’t mark a shift in Oracle’s infrastructure buildout, KeyBanc said in a report Monday.

She is rather a checkpoint on Oracle’s journey to become a harder asset company, with an energy and equipment background that makes sense as servers, cooling technology, GPUs and other infrastructure technologies look to take over most of Oracle’s overall revenue by fiscal year 2028, according to the investment bank’s report.

Oracle’s stock fell about 2 percent to about $145 a share by Monday afternoon Eastern time.