Charles E. Phillips (born June 1959)Kalte, Pamela M. (ed). Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 57. Gale Research Inc., 2007. pp. 107–108. (reprint: ) is an American business executive in the tech industry. He is the co-founder of Recognize, a focused investment firm. From 2010 to 2019, he was the CEO of Infor, a company that specializes in enterprise software applications for specific industries."Infor Appoints Charles Phillips as Chief Executive Officer". Infor.com. October 25, 2010.
In his first three years as CEO of Infor, Phillips grew the company significantly through numerous strategic acquisitions, created an in-house design agency to improve software user interface and visual appeal, and updated and upgraded software to better meet niche-industry needs. In 2014, he led Infor to become the first industry cloud company – the first ERP vendor in the cloud offering complete software products for businesses and unique sub-industries – and by 2018 Infor was also the first ERP provider to make a complete transition to the cloud, with the majority of its customers, applications, and revenues cloud-based. In August 2019 he stepped down as CEO to "focus on strategy development, customer relationships, and new acquisitions", as Infor's Chairman.
Prior to joining Infor, Phillips was co-president and director of Oracle Corporation from 2003 through 2010, and a managing director in the investment banking technology group at Morgan Stanley from 1994 to 2003. He is also a director at Viacom Corporation.Charles E. Phillips, Jr. – Profile on Bloomberg Businessweek.
Early life and education Charles E. Phillips Jr. was born in June 1959 in Little Rock, Arkansas, where his father was stationed in the Air Force. During his childhood his family moved often from state to state, and to Europe as well.
Phillips was fascinated by computers and technology from an early age, and spent his spare time during high school building computers. His father expected at least one of his four sons to join the Air Force, and Phillips enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and earned a BS in computer science in 1981. When his eyesight did not meet the rigorous standard to be a pilot, he accepted a commission in the Marines. He joined as a second lieutenant, rising to the rank of captain, and was stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where he worked on computer systems.Lev-Ram, Michal. "The redemption of Charles Phillips". Fortune. September 2, 2013.
Phillips obtained an MBA from Hampton University in 1986. He also attended New York Law School, obtaining a JD in 1993."Oracle Executive Biography: Charles E. Phillips, Jr.". Oracle.com. Retrieved March 4, 2010. In 2015 he received an honorary Doctor of Science from City University of New York's New York City College of Technology."City Tech Presents Charles E. Phillips, CEO Of Infor, With Honorary Doctor Of Science At Commencement Ceremony". New York City College of Technology. May 27, 2015.
Career
Early career From 1981 to 1986, Phillips was in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines artillery unit at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, managing computer systems. He had joined as a Second Lieutenant and rose through the ranks to become a captain.
Phillips began his civilian career in 1986, and he and his wife Karen moved to New York, where his wife had relatives. He joined BNY Mellon as vice president of Software, and was at the company for four years. He then transferred to SoundView Technology Group, where he was senior vice president from 1990 through 1993, and Kidder Peabody, where he was senior vice president from 1990 through 1994.
In 1994, he joined Morgan Stanley as an enterprise software-industry analyst in the investment banking technology group,Cafasso, Rosemary. "Opportunity knocks: Wall Street sees big potential in data warehousing". Computerworld. October 28, 1996. p. 121.Smith, Jessie Carney. Encyclopedia of African American Business, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. pp. 656–657. and he was promoted to managing director, a role in which he served through 2003.
Phillips spent his time on Wall Street nurturing relationships with hedge funders, venture capitalists, private equity executives, technology CEOs, and other business and financial leaders, and gained a reputation for being one of the most aggressive, connected, influential, and prolific technology investment analysts.Gilbert, Alorie. "Analyst adjusts to life on the other side". CNET News. July 11, 2003. Institutional Investor ranked him the number one Enterprise Software Industry Analyst for ten consecutive years, from 1994 to 2003.
Oracle Among Phillip's industry contacts during his Wall Street years was Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison, who invited him to join Oracle in 2003. Phillips accepted, and served as co-president and director of Oracle from 2003 to 2010.
Phillips led Oracle's field organization, and during his tenure he oversaw the company's revenue growth of nearly 300%. He also played a key role in Oracle's long series of acquisitions of 70 companies, including PeopleSoft, BEA Systems, Hyperion Solutions, and Siebel Systems, among others. Responsible for Oracle's sales and acquisitions, he utilized his networking, negotiation, and closing skills, and became one of the highest-profile African-Americans in the technology industry in the mid-2000s.Maney, Kevin. "Oracle moves into Microsoft's area of expertise". USA Today. August 4, 2004. In 2007, InformationWeek called him "Oracle's Secret Weapon".Weier, Mary Hayes. "Oracle's Secret Weapon: Charles Phillips". InformationWeek. July 27, 2007. After seven years growing the company, Phillips resigned from Oracle in September 2010."Charles Phillips Resigns as President of Oracle". Marketwired. September 6, 2010.
Infor 2010–2013 In October 2010 Phillips was announced as CEO of Infor, the world's third largest provider of enterprise applications and services, and the world's largest privately owned software company."Appointments: Charles Phillips, Chief Executive Officer" . Business & Leadership. October 26, 2010.Woodie, Alex. "Infor Commits Itself to Microsoft and Windows Technologies" IT Jungle. June 28, 2010. He was joined by several high-ranking Oracle executives.Bort, Julie. "How Infor CEO Charles Phillips Is Quietly Becoming The 'Steve Jobs' Of Business Software". Business Insider. September 10, 2013. Within four months of being hired, he led Infor's $2 billion acquisition of Lawson Software, a competitor focused on the health care industry, and continued Infor's acquisitions at the rate of two or more per year.Bort, Julie. "Ex-Oracle Exec Plots His 'Revenge,' 3 Years Later". Business Insider. March 18, 2013. In October 2011, Phillips moved Infor's headquarters from the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Georgia to New York City's Silicon Alley.Kanaracus, Chris. "Infor CEO Charles Phillips Discusses Software Vendor's Remaking". Computer World. January 10, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2022
He immediately set about re-directing Infor and its efforts, instilling a corporate culture of camaraderie, goodwill, and reward.Greenbaum, Joshua. "Infor the Innovator: Is There Room for Another Horse in the Race?". Enterprise Application Consulting. February 21, 2013. He also focused Infor on excellent design and product coherence, establishing product usability and highly attractive modern interface as key components in Infor's software lines. To optimize user experience design, Phillips and his team formed Hook & Loop, an internal creative agency of writers, designers, developers, and filmmakers who develop software that is beautiful and user-friendly and has social-media type elements. Infor now maintains a design directive of "work is beautiful", and Hook & Loop is one of the largest digital design agencies in New York City.Krigsman, Michael. "Infor and 'No Fugly Software': Design as a competitive weapon". Enterprise Irregulars. April 28, 2014.Flamm, Matthew. "Infor out for Oracle and SAP". Crain's New York Business. March 17, 2013.
To further differentiate Infor from its competitors, including Oracle and SAP, he focused Infor on niche acquisitions: smaller companies, and highly specialized divisions within large corporations that are applicable to "micro-verticals" or unique sub-industries.Kanaracus, Chris. "Infor tries for reinvention with Infor10 software launch". Computerworld. September 13, 2011. Under his direction Infor updated big industry-specific applications from older software languages to .Net and Java programming languages.Swartz, Jon. "Charles Phillips' comeback means competition for Oracle". USA Today. April 21, 2013. Phillips also changed Infor's focus from building scale to innovation and products. He refocused Infor towards enhanced product integration,Knorr, Eric. "Can Infor upset the Oracle-SAP duopoly?". InfoWorld. August 5, 2013.Kanaracus, Chris. "Infor Refreshes Its Lineup for 'Micro-Vertical' Industries". Computer World. February 29, 2012. and to custom-creating and fine-tuning software for the specific needs of individual industries.Dignan, Larry. "Infor CEO Phillips talks cloud, UI, and industry focus". ZDNet. April 17, 2014. Within three years of his leadership, Infor launched 300 new products and hired 1,500 new engineers. He also directed the company to open-source infrastructure.Bakker. Alex. "Executive Insights: An Interview with Charles Phillips, CEO, Infor". Lens360. November 13, 2012.Kugel, Robert. "Infor at the End of the Beginning". Ventana Research. May 4, 2014.
2014–present In 2014 Phillips announced his intention for Infor to be the world's first industry cloud company – the first ERP vendor in the cloud offering complete software solutions for businesses and unique sub-industries.Du Preez, Derek. "Interview: Charles Phillips, CEO, Infor". Computer Weekly. March 14, 2014.Rossi, Ben. "Infor reveals updated application platform, powered by new big data department". Information Age. September 16, 2014.Ogewell, Verdi. "From the graveyard of ERP to the world’s largest start-up: Infor TV Report". Engineering.com. April 25, 2014 At the 2014 Amazon Web Services Summit, he gave the keynote address, and announced the launch of Infor CloudSuite, the first group of industry-specific application suites to be available on Amazon Web Services's cloud.Lauchlan, Stuart. "Exclusive: a Spanish inquisition with Infor CEO Charles Phillips". Diginomica.com. March 12, 2014."Market Move – Infor runs CloudSuite on AWS - Inflection Point or hot air balloon?". Enterprise Software Musings. March 30, 2014.Greene, Jay. "Facing new rivals, Amazon expands its cloud-computing offerings". Seattle Times. March 26, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2022"Infor Is All In on the AWS Cloud" (video). 2014 AWS Summit. Amazon Web Services. In 2014 Infor also launched Dynamic Science Labs, located in Kendall Square on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus, where a team of more than 70 PhD-level scientists develop applications for predictive analytics, machine learning, managing retail assortments, optimizing inventory, and planning segmented pricing for customers.Rossi, Ben. "The rebirth of Infor: a transformation led by tech's coolest character". Information Age. September 25, 2014.Rossi, Ben. "The view from the cloud: how Infor CEO Charles Phillips is setting out to build the 'social network of companies'". Information Age. October 28, 2015.Demery, Paul. "Business software provider Infor gets $2 billion". DigitalCommerce360.com. November 16, 2016.