Compass has installed Charles Phillips, the chairman of software company Infor and the former president of Oracle, to its board of directors, the company announced Tuesday. Phillips’ appointment marks the third independent member of Compass’ board of directors, joining Pamela Thomas-Graham and Eileen Murray.
“For the past two decades Charles Phillips has led software companies whose primary purpose is to make other businesses more productive,” Ori Allon, Compass’ co-founder and executive chairman, said in a statement. “His depth of leadership experience provides Compass with an authoritative voice as we continue to enhance our platform that helps our agents grow their businesses by better serving their clients.”
Phillips is the chairman of Infor, which is currently the third-largest business software applications company in the world, according to Compass. The company provides cloud-based applications for an array of industries. Phillips previously served as CEO of Infor until its 2020 acquisition by Koch Industries.
Prior to his work at Infor, Phillips was the president of Oracle Corporation, one of the nation’s largest computer software companies, as well a member of its board of directors. He’s also served on the boards of directors for Morgan Stanley, Viacom Corporation, the Apollo Theater, the New York Police Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Board.
“Every sector of the economy is undergoing an accelerated digital metamorphosis and that change has finally arrived in real estate,” Phillips said. “There is always a digital catalyst in every industry and Compass is building the future of real estate commerce.”
With the appointment of Phillips, a Black business leader, half of Compass’ board of directors is Black and a third of it is female, a spokesperson for the company told Inman.
A number of companies — including Zillow and Redfin — signed a pledge earlier this month to add a black director to their boards within one year, as part of, The Board Challenge, a new effort aimed at increasing diversity on corporate boards.
