Celebrations at new Oracle president's home in Kerala

Kottayam (Kerala) Jan 10 (IANS) It's celebration time at the house of Kerala's Thomas Kurian who has been named president of the US IT major Oracle Corp.

According to Kurian's uncle George Jacob it was happiness all round for the family here after learning about his elevation.

The 84-year-old, a veteran cardiologist leading a retired life, told IANS that the family receieved the news Friday. "He was here three months ago when his father (my elder brother passed away). As soon as I got the news, I passed it on to my nephews and nieces."

Kurian's elevation came nearly four months after Larry Ellison, longtime chief executive officer of Oracle, took on the role of executive chairman.

Jacob said that Kurian's family hails from Pampady in Kottayam district and their ancestral home is lying locked.

Saying that Kurian had a brilliant academic career, Jacob said Kurian and his identical twin besides two other siblings were brought up in Bangalore as their father was the general manager of Graphite India.

"Both the twins got selected for IIT and six months later both of them got admitted to Princeton University. They passed out with flying colours and since then they have been working in the US. We are all excited and happy," Jacob said.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told IANS that Kurian's ancestral home comes under his constituency besides he knew Kurian's father too.

Chandy said he will speak to him to congratulate on his elevation.

The California-headquartered Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) has promoted executive Kurian to the role of president. Having joined Oracle in 1996, Kurian was previously executive vice president in charge of product development.

The company specialises in developing and marketing computer hardware systems and enterprise software products.

Oracle also has a development unit in the Technopark campus here.