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Tod Nielsen, the software marketing guru who formerly worked at BEA Systems and Microsoft, has resurfaced, this time at Oracle, sources say.
Nielsen, who most recently was a senior vice president and chief marketing officer at BEA Systems Inc., is said to hold the title of senior vice president of global sales support at Oracle, where he is reporting to Charles Phillips, executive vice president of Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle Corp., according to sources.
Nielsen, who will focus on technology marketing at Oracle, left BEA last August after a series of high-level defections that included former chief architect Adam Bosworth and Scott Dietzen, former chief technology officer.
Perhaps Nielsens most famous comments as head of marketing for BEA was his pledge to attract more than 1 million developers to the BEA platform by pursuing a Microsoft-like strategy of building applications using components around BEAs WebLogic WorkShop.
BEA never did reach that goal, at least not during Nielsens tenure.
Marge Breya, who has succeeded Nielsen as CMO at BEA, told eWEEK in a recent interview: “That was a mistake. Developers are very important to us, but were in a new phase of the company where other roles such as architects, business analysts and others are just as important.”
At Microsoft, Nielsen held the title of vice president of developer marketing, among various other roles.
Nielsen was hand-picked by Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates to go to Washington and assist the companys legal team during the landmark antitrust trial with the government.
Nielsen served in his BEA roles from November 2001, following BEAs acquisition of CrossGain, where Nielsen had held the title of CEO from 2000 to 2001, to last August.
Nielsen was employed at Microsoft from 1988 to July of 2000, when he left to join CrossGain as CEO.
Nielsen, who worked out of Bellevue, Wash., for BEA, will remain in that vicinity and work in Oracles office in Bellevue, sources said.
Upon a call to Oracles Bellevue offices, Nielsens assistant said he had gone for the day. Oracle would not otherwise comment on the news.