Jeremy Burton, 43, joined the EMC Corp., a Hopkinton, Mass.-based data infrastructure firm, last March as its first chief marketing officer, reporting to CEO Joe Tucci.
Before EMC, Burton led marketing at software companies including Oracle, Veritas and later at Symantec after it acquired Veritas in 2004.
Despite his marketing credentials, he's an engineer at heart.
He earned a degree in information systems engineering at University of Surrey, Burton, then worked as a software engineer for ICL, London-based manufacturer of mainframe hardware and software that's now part of Japan's Fujitsu. He landed a low-level job at Oracle during the early nineties after meeting an employee at a party in London.
Burton caught the eye of CEO Larry Ellison after transferring to Oracle's headquarters in Redwood Shores and moved up rapidly, becoming the company's senior vice president of product & services marketing in 2000.
He was Tucci's first choice when EMC created the CMO role last year.
In his off time, Burton races his 1994 spec Mazda Miata at the Infineon raceway at Sonoma, Calif.
FINS talked to Burton about marketing corporate technology, racing and life lessons from Larry Ellison.
Read the full interview at FINS Sales & Marketing.
Write to Sindhu Sundar
Related: EMC Plans to Continue Hiring in 2011 After Upping Headcount in 2010