Oracle Hires Microsoft Exec For New Partner Strategy Role

The newly appointed head of strategic partnerships at Oracle, Doug Smith, had worked at Microsoft for more than 16 years.

Oracle has hired a longtime Microsoft executive to fill a new position aimed at helping to develop the partner strategy at the cloud infrastructure and database giant.

The executive, Doug Smith, has joined Oracle as a senior vice president and head of strategic partnerships at Oracle, within the company’s corporate operations team, according to an internal memo shared with CRN. Smith has spent the past 16 years with Microsoft.

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As part of his role at Oracle, Smith will be responsible for developing a partner strategy related to cloud alliances and relationships with independent software vendors--with the aim of helping to drive revenue and customer satisfaction, according to the memo. Oracle’s strategic alliances and inbound licensing teams will work with Smith.

Oracle declined to make executives available for comment.

At Microsoft, Smith served as a general manager focused on partner, cloud and AI business development for more than eight years, according to his LinkedIn profile. In the role, he worked to drive strategic partnerships and acquisitions for Microsoft‘s Azure cloud platform, as well as for platforms related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, analytics, blockchain and applications, according to the profile.

Specific responsibilities have included creating custom alliances and partnerships, according to his profile--across product, service, sales and marketing for Microsoft and its partners.

Smith initially joined Microsoft in 2004. Previous roles at the company included chief financial officer of the Health Solutions Group and finance director of global research and development. Prior to joining Microsoft, he held positions at Intel and PwC.