Shoaib Abbasi
Encyclopedia
Sohaib Abbasi
, CEO of Informatica
and a former executive of Oracle Corporation
, was born in Lahore
, Pakistan
and moved to various cities with his father, an air force official, before reaching the United States
in 1974. Abbasi earned a Bachelors and later a Masters degree in computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. He joined Oracle in 1982 when it had only 30 employees and the revenue was about four million dollars a year. Abbasi spent 20 years at Oracle Corporation where he was a member of the company’s executive committee and, as Senior Vice President, led two major divisions: Oracle Tools and Oracle Education. When he retired from the company in March 2003, Oracle had more than 42,000 employees and annual revenues of US $9.5 billion.
Abbasi became chief executive of Informatica Corp. in July, 2004 at a time when the data integration software company was struggling financially and with its identity. Abbasi took the helm and refocused the company on a narrower set of products, while evangelizing the broader use of data integration across the enterprise. Under his leadership, Informatica’s revenues have jumped from $219 million in fiscal 2004 to $455 million in fiscal 2008. Informatica’s 20 percent growth rate over this period was 2.5 times the average for the software industry. Since Abbasi joined Informatica, the company has won numerous awards.
, California, with an endowment of US $9 million. A significant aspect of the program is the generous donation of 2.5 million dollars by a Pakistani couple, Sara and Sohaib Abbasi.
The support provided by the couple for the program—Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies—includes graduate fellowships, research, new library, strengthened language courses at advanced levels and regular public programs such as lecture series by eminent scholars. At the same time Stanford alumni Lysbeth Warren made a gift of two million dollars for a new professorship on Islam. Both the gifts were matched by the Stanford University with a grant from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, taking the total amount of endowment for the program and professorship to nine million dollars.
department. I wanted to find out general statistics like how many students graduate from these institutions, how many graduates get job or are accepted in higher education, how many scholarship they offer, about curriculum, about the cost etc and about the cost associated with the faculty and faculty information. It took me about five months to get this information and it’s still not complete and reliable.”
Moreover, the Pakistani institutions or government are not ready to contribute to the cause. At Illinois and Stanford, the money is endowed and will be there forever, and they can hold the universities’ accountable for managing it and that endowment would generate the money to run the fellowship and the program. “Most of the Pakistani institutions do not have the transparency that is required to give them the funds and have them manage it and provide proper reporting,” the couple said.
Mrs. Sara Abbasi is on the executive board of Developments in Literacy,www.dil.org, an international non-profit organization that has built 200 schools in Pakistan since 1997.
“I also met with Federal Minister Dr Attaur Rehman and the governor of Sindh
and in both meetings I asked if we were to make a contribution, will that be matched with the same amount? The response was that I should make a formal written request and would receive formal response. In Stanford, we did get a verbal commitment. I understand that there is no history of people making endowments. But we would like very much to help, especially in the field of developing technology
fields,” said Abbasi.
Abbasi
Abbasi is a prominent Islamic family name. - Origin :The Abbasid caliphate was founded by the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, in Harran in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad...
, CEO of Informatica
Informatica
Informatica Corporation is a NASDAQ listed company with ticker INFA. Founded in 1993, its headquarters is in Redwood City, California. Founded by Diaz Nesamoney and Gaurav Dhillon...
and a former executive of Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, was born in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and moved to various cities with his father, an air force official, before reaching the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1974. Abbasi earned a Bachelors and later a Masters degree in computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. He joined Oracle in 1982 when it had only 30 employees and the revenue was about four million dollars a year. Abbasi spent 20 years at Oracle Corporation where he was a member of the company’s executive committee and, as Senior Vice President, led two major divisions: Oracle Tools and Oracle Education. When he retired from the company in March 2003, Oracle had more than 42,000 employees and annual revenues of US $9.5 billion.
Abbasi became chief executive of Informatica Corp. in July, 2004 at a time when the data integration software company was struggling financially and with its identity. Abbasi took the helm and refocused the company on a narrower set of products, while evangelizing the broader use of data integration across the enterprise. Under his leadership, Informatica’s revenues have jumped from $219 million in fiscal 2004 to $455 million in fiscal 2008. Informatica’s 20 percent growth rate over this period was 2.5 times the average for the software industry. Since Abbasi joined Informatica, the company has won numerous awards.
Charity
Since the September 11 attacks an Islamic studies program and a professorship have been initiated at the prestigious Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, California, with an endowment of US $9 million. A significant aspect of the program is the generous donation of 2.5 million dollars by a Pakistani couple, Sara and Sohaib Abbasi.
The support provided by the couple for the program—Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies—includes graduate fellowships, research, new library, strengthened language courses at advanced levels and regular public programs such as lecture series by eminent scholars. At the same time Stanford alumni Lysbeth Warren made a gift of two million dollars for a new professorship on Islam. Both the gifts were matched by the Stanford University with a grant from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, taking the total amount of endowment for the program and professorship to nine million dollars.
Attempts to help Pakistanis
The Abbasis have also tried to support educational institutions in Pakistan. “I went to Pakistan last summer (2003),” said Abbasi, “and met with representatives of all the major academic institutions that have a computer scienceComputer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
department. I wanted to find out general statistics like how many students graduate from these institutions, how many graduates get job or are accepted in higher education, how many scholarship they offer, about curriculum, about the cost etc and about the cost associated with the faculty and faculty information. It took me about five months to get this information and it’s still not complete and reliable.”
Moreover, the Pakistani institutions or government are not ready to contribute to the cause. At Illinois and Stanford, the money is endowed and will be there forever, and they can hold the universities’ accountable for managing it and that endowment would generate the money to run the fellowship and the program. “Most of the Pakistani institutions do not have the transparency that is required to give them the funds and have them manage it and provide proper reporting,” the couple said.
Mrs. Sara Abbasi is on the executive board of Developments in Literacy,www.dil.org, an international non-profit organization that has built 200 schools in Pakistan since 1997.
“I also met with Federal Minister Dr Attaur Rehman and the governor of Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
and in both meetings I asked if we were to make a contribution, will that be matched with the same amount? The response was that I should make a formal written request and would receive formal response. In Stanford, we did get a verbal commitment. I understand that there is no history of people making endowments. But we would like very much to help, especially in the field of developing technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
fields,” said Abbasi.
Further reading
- Andy Greenberg (September 16, 2009). "The Big Deal: Informatica's Sohaib Abbasi". Forbes.com
- Erika Brown (April 18, 2006). "Informatica's Chief Integrator". Forbes.com.
- Sohaib Abbasi (Oct. 23, 2006). "5 Steps to a Business Turnaround". Sandhill.com.
- " Informatica: Stitching Together Technology". Forbes.com (video). September 24, 2009.
- " Informatica CEO Talks Partnerships, Cloud Computing". Street.com (video). September 17, 2009.
- "Forbes Video - CEO Insights: Informatica". Forbes.com. September 16, 2009.
- "Abbasi of Informatica Sees Consolidation in Software Industry". Bloomberg.com. May 15, 2007.