Thomas Siebel

Founder of Siebel Systems and pioneer of customer relationship management (CRM), Siebel revolutionized sales by developing software to automate sales and customer service activities. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received a B.A. in history, an M.B.A., and an M.S. in computer science. From 1984 through 1990, he served as an executive at Oracle Corporation, holding a number of management positions. He then served as Chief Executive Officer of Gain Technology, a multimedia software company that merged with Sybase in December 1992.

Siebel founded Siebel Systems in 1993, serving as its chairman and Chief Executive Officer, where he pioneered the development of customer relationship management (CRM). CRM is a revolutionary approach to sales that involves the use of computer software to automate sales and customer service activities. As CEO of Siebel Systems, he presided over one of the fastest growing and most consistently profitable companies in the information technology sector. His CRM software and related marketing strategy spawned an entire industry, earning Siebel recognition as a visionary entrepreneur. Siebel Systems was acquired by Oracle in January 2006.

He then became the chairman of First Virtual Group, a diversified holding company. A frequent industry spokesperson and author, his books include: Cyber Rules (1999) and Taking Care of eBusiness (2001), published by Doubleday, and Virtual Selling (2002), published by the Free Press.

Awards he received included: One of the Top 25 Managers in the World, Business Week, 2000, 2001; CEO of the Year, Industry Week, 2002; David Packard Award, Business Executives for National Security, 2002.