Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Responds to Shareholders’ Push For Change

We've had some great experiences with our board. We've had two board members that were sadly having to say goodbye to. They've been with us for 20 years. Sandy Robertson and Alan Hasenfold, incredible executives who've really guided the last two decades of our performance. We're saying hello to three great new executives. I mean, one of them has been part of our ecosystem. You might have seen him at Dreamforce when you were there, Brian.

Mason Morphitt, the CEO of Value Act Capital. We've had some great experiences with our board. We've had two board members that were sadly having to say goodbye to. They've been with us for 20 years. Sandy Robertson and Alan Hasenfold, incredible executives who've really guided the last two decades of our performance. We're saying hello to three great new executives. I mean, one of them has been part of our ecosystem.

You might have seen him at Dreamforce when you were there, Brian. Mason Morphitt, the CEO of Value Act Capital. He was not just at Dreamforce and has met with our customers and spent time with all of our executives and employees, but built these incredible decks showing us new levels of performance that we could get in a distribution strategy and pricing. He was on the board of Microsoft, so he has incredible wisdom from that and from running Value Act as the CEO. We said, what, Mason, you should really be on our board. You're really adding value like we've never seen from an outsider. He was not just at Dreamforce and has met with our customers and spent time with all of our executives and employees, but built these incredible decks showing us new levels of performance that we could get in a distribution strategy and pricing.

He was on the board of Microsoft, so he has incredible wisdom from that and from running Value Act as the CEO. We said, what, Mason, you should really be on our board. You're really adding value like we've never seen from an outsider. His founder, Jeff Ubin, also was someone who was there at Dreamforce with us. He's a friend of mine for many years, incredibly wise and enlightened person as well. And we're like, wow, Mason, come in and help us. And then, Sasha Morant, the MasterCard is a great customer of ours.

The Chief Financial Officer, he has incredible financial engineering expertise. We've asked him to join our board and probably one of my favorite CEOs His founder, Jeff Ubin, also was someone who was there at Dreamforce with us. He's a friend of mine for many years, incredibly wise and enlightened person as well. And we're like, wow, Mason, come in and help us. And then, Sasha Morant, the MasterCard is a great customer of ours. The Chief Financial Officer, he has incredible financial engineering expertise. We've asked him to join our board and probably one of my favorite CEOs of all time, one of the top CEOs in the world, Arnold Donald is also joining our board.

So we have three great new board members. And that's five new board members in the last 16 months. Incredible. Yeah, I've gotten to know Arnold Donald through the years. He's been very informative. Great person, isn't it? Just great person. Let me ask you this, Mark.

I've been doing this for a while. I know I may appear young, but I have been doing this for a while. I've never seen you. Get on and appear that young, Brian. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for the raw honesty.

of all time, one of the top CEOs in the world, Arnold Donald is also joining our board. So we have three great new board members. And that's five new board members in the last 16 months. Incredible. Yeah, I've gotten to know Arnold Donald through the years. He's been very informative. Great person, isn't it? Just great person.

Let me ask you this, Mark. I've been doing this for a while. I know I may appear young, but I have been doing this for a while. I've never seen you. Get on and appear that young, Brian. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much for the raw honesty. The active situation, I haven't ever seen anything like this. You know, what is our resolution in sight? How does this all end? And how do you move beyond it? Well, like I can really learn from anyone and I enjoy meeting new people and I enjoy talking to folks. And and look, there's lots of different levels of understanding of enterprise software. You know, there's different understandings of our company, who our customers are. The active situation, I haven't ever seen anything like this. You know, what is our resolution in sight? How does this all end? And how do you move beyond it? Well, like I can really learn from anyone and I enjoy meeting new people and I enjoy talking to folks.

And and look, there's lots of different levels of understanding of enterprise software. You know, there's different understandings of our company, who our customers are. But it doesn't matter what grade all these folks are at. I'm trying to adjust and learn and understand their perspectives. I think it's extremely important that I have a beginner's mind. You know, I like to practice the Japanese concept of Shoshin. You know, how do I have a beginner's mind? And the expert's mind, Brian, you know, there's no possibilities.

You know, the beginner's mind, there's every possibility. And that is really my approach with everything that has been going on with Salesforce. And it's been great. But it doesn't matter what grade all these folks are at. I'm trying to adjust and learn and understand their perspectives. I think it's extremely important that I have a beginner's mind. You know, I like to practice the Japanese concept of Shoshin.

You know, how do I have a beginner's mind? And the expert's mind, Brian, you know, there's no possibilities. You know, the beginner's mind, there's every possibility. And that is really my approach with everything that has been going on with Salesforce. And it's been great. And then out of that, wow, I was just really blown away with Mason Morphid and how he was able to just, you know, grok what we're doing at Salesforce, but then deliver these, like I said, these decks, which outlined what we thought was just strategic directions for our company that really showed his expertise. And that's why we've added him onto our board. And then out of that, wow, I was just really blown away with Mason Morphid and how he was able to just, you know, grok what we're doing at Salesforce, but then deliver these, like I said, these decks, which outlined what we thought was just strategic directions for our company that really showed his expertise.

And that's why we've added him onto our board.

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