Keynotes

Mark Hurd is chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation and a member of the company's board of directors. He joined Oracle in 2010, bringing more than 30 years of technology industry leadership, computer hardware expertise, and executive management experience to his role with the company. Hurd is also a member of the Baylor University Board of Regents.

With cloud computing, innovation is continuous. Thomas Kurian, president of Oracle Product Development, will showcase innovations across infrastructure, platform, applications and data—the breadth of the most complete cloud in the industry.

Mike Pearl is a principal in PwC’s US consulting business. Pearl is PwC’s technology consulting leader for the technology, entertainment and media, telecommunications, and hospitality industries. He also serves as PwC’s global cloud computing leader. Pearl has been a leader of PwC’s digital transformation initiatives for several years and is one of the principal authors of the firm’s digital transformation framework and cloud computing strategy. He has more than 22 years of management and technology consulting experience, delivering strategy, design, and operations consulting as well as large-scale transformation and technology services to clients across multiple industries.

Pearl has extensive experience in helping organizations assess, design, and implement strategies focusing on the improvement of business and technology processes. Pearl leads some of PwC’s largest and most complex engagements including enterprise transformation related to digital business models. Pearl’s thought leadership on emerging business and technology issues helps to shape the firm’s point of view. He was a primary contributor to PwC’s Technology Forecast, “Driving Growth with Cloud Computing.” He is frequently published and speaks regularly on the topic of emerging technology and business models. Some recent articles and speaking engagements on digital transformation and emerging technology include:

Pearl is recognized as a leader in the market when it comes to consulting on strategy and operations related to the convergence of technology and emerging business models. He is the lead consulting partner on some of PwC’s largest clients, delivering emerging technology and business transformation consulting services. Pearl has worked over the past several years with many of the leading technology companies in a number of different capacities and areas including strategy, IT, operations, and finance.

Pearl holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Notre Dame.

Globalization, accessibility to an overwhelming array of products and information, and technological innovation are rapidly changing the marketplace in significant ways. As a result, consumers are changing the way they buy, and businesses need to change the way they compete. The Internet and the infrastructure of massive connection have already reinvented many industries, but we’ve barely scratched the surface. We’re still surrounded by countless products, services, and business models that are built on the logic of the past. Many of the decisions that define these businesses were made years ago, in a different age, and a different context. Winning organizations in the next decade will be those that discard these old business decisions and remake the market landscape by implementing ideas that are not easily conceived of or replicated by a competitor.

Zach Nelson, former CEO of NetSuite Inc. (acquired by Oracle) is now charged with ERP cloud strategy at Oracle. Nelson joined NetSuite in 2002, bringing cloud vision and expertise, and industry and executive leadership experience to his role with the company. Nelson oversaw the company’s direction, strategy, innovation and leadership team. Under his leadership, NetSuite rose from a start-up to a successful IPO company that had more than 30,000 organizations running their mission critical business processes on NetSuite worldwide. Prior to NetSuite Nelson held a variety of executive positions spanning marketing, sales, product development and business strategy with leading tech companies such as Oracle, where he ran worldwide marketing, Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) and McAfee/Network Associates.

Nelson has won many awards including being named to CRN’s 25 Most Influential List for six consecutive years since 2011. He was also named to 2013 Business Insider’s 50 Most Powerful People In Enterprise Tech List, and to Fortune magazine’s 2012 Businessperson of the Year List. His leadership has led NetSuite to win many industry accolades including being named to Forbes Most Innovative Growth Companies 2014 list and to Forbes America’s 100 Most Trustworthy Companies 2013.

Nelson holds B.S. and M.A. degrees from Stanford University.