James P. Barksdale — Board Member Accountability Profile
Category: Private Citizen — Former Corporate Director Role: Former Independent Director, Oracle Corporation (retired) Board Tenure: 2002 – (retired) Committee Memberships: Finance and Audit Committee (former) Profile Type: Board Member Accountability — Anchor B (Documented Organizational Leadership)
Basis for Inclusion: James P. Barksdale held a documented governance role at Oracle Corporation as a long-serving independent director. Oracle Corporation is a major enterprise software and cloud computing company and made documented political donations to Trump-aligned entities. Oracle has significant U.S. federal government cloud computing contracts (including classified government cloud), is significantly affected by federal IT procurement policy, and its founder Larry Ellison has had documented personal and financial relationships with the Trump administration, including the TikTok acquisition discussions. This profile documents the factual historical governance relationship.
Subject Classification: Private Citizen / Former Corporate Director. Board membership is a matter of public record.
What is NOT the basis for inclusion: Personal political opinions, party affiliation, or protected speech are NOT the basis for inclusion.
Biographical Overview
James P. Barksdale is a veteran technology executive best known as President and Chief Executive Officer of Netscape Communications Corporation, the pioneering web browser company, from 1995 to 1998. He guided Netscape through its landmark 1995 IPO and the subsequent “browser wars” with Microsoft. Before Netscape, he served as President and COO of AT&T Wireless Services and as COO of Federal Express. Barksdale has been a significant philanthropist in Mississippi and the American South, with substantial donations to education and civil rights causes. He served as a long-tenured independent director of Oracle, bringing telecommunications, internet infrastructure, and executive leadership expertise to the board. Note: His listing as “retired” reflects his departure from the active Oracle board.
Board Role and Governance Authority
- Company: Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL)
- Board tenure: 2002 – (retired; profile based on most recent available proxy data)
- Committee assignments: Finance and Audit Committee (historical)
Other Current Board Memberships (if applicable)
Barksdale has served on the boards of multiple technology and financial institutions over his career.
Parent Corporate Donor Profile
This profile is a governance-accountability companion to the Oracle Corporation corporate donor profile.
Factual correction requests: If you believe information in this profile is incorrect, please contact factcheck@patriot.university with your name (optional), the specific claim, and any supporting documentation. We review all submissions and correct verified errors promptly.
Investigative trail pointers (public records)
Education only — verify independently. Absence of hits is not proof.
| Channel | Starting points |
|---|---|
| Federal courts | CourtListener / PACER party and attorney searches (spelling variants) |
| Campaign finance | FEC + OpenSecrets for committees and donors tied to documented roles |
| Corporate / LLC | State secretary of state; OpenCorporates for cross-border shells from reporting |
| Sanctions / PEP | OpenSanctions when international business context is already sourced |
| Contracts / grants | USAspending.gov for named entities from investigations |
Use public-records-research-specialist, corporate-intelligence-investigator, and public-corruption-ombudsman evidence tiers.
Sources
- Oracle Corporation DEF 14A Proxy Statement (most recent applicable); SEC EDGAR
- Netscape Communications corporate records (public)