In the third quarter of 1990, Oracle Systems-one of the world's largest computer technology companies-reports a $100 million loss in revenue, its first loss since its 1977 founding. The tech industry braces itself as hundreds of employees are laid off. Its co-founder, Larry Ellison, decides Oracle needs new direction and brings in Ray Lane, who was leading a worldwide technology consulting group at Booz Allen & Hamilton.
Lane is able to right Oracle's business practice irregularities that plagued the company and streamlines operations. During his eight-year tenure, in which he would serve as the company's president and COO, Oracle's annual revenue grew from less than $1 billion to more than $10 billion.
Today, Lane is a managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley's leading venture capital firms. Since joining the firm in 2000, he has focused on helping entrepreneurs with technological and market insight, organizational development, team building, selling, and managing growth. His latest turn-around interest is Hewlett Packard- the struggling technology company-where he is executive chairman.
Along the way, he has been involved in the community-everything from volunteering with the Special Olympics to being the current chair of the Board of Trustees at his father's alma mater: Carnegie Mellon University.
For all of his professional and philanthropic ventures, he was recently awarded the David Packard Medal of Achievement by TechAmerica for his "significant contributions" to the high-tech industry, as well as his community service. He joins a list of some impressive past winners including the founders of IBM and Intel.
-Elizabeth Shestak (DC'03)
