Marc Russell Benioff, born September 25, 1964, in San Francisco, California, is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Salesforce, a leading cloud computing company[5][1][2]. He graduated from Burlingame High School in 1982 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Southern California in 1986[1][5]. Benioff began his career at Oracle Corporation, where he quickly rose to become the youngest vice president at age 26, before leaving in 1999 to found Salesforce with a vision to revolutionize enterprise software by delivering customer relationship management (CRM) through the cloud[1][4]. Salesforce launched from a small San Francisco apartment with the slogan "The End of Software," pioneering the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. The company went public in 2004 and has grown into a Fortune 150 company with over 70,000 employees and a market valuation exceeding $200 billion[1][2][3]. Under Benioff’s leadership, Salesforce introduced innovations such as the AppExchange—the first enterprise app marketplace—and expanded through acquisitions including Tableau, Slack, and MuleSoft, positioning the company as a comprehensive platform for business software[1][2]. The Salesforce Tower in San Francisco symbolizes the company’s commitment to innovation and sustainability[3]. Benioff is also notable for integrating philanthropy into business through Salesforce’s 1-1-1 model, dedicating 1% of equity, product, and employee time to charitable causes. He co-founded the Pledge 1% movement, which has been adopted by thousands of companies[2][3]. Beyond Salesforce, he became the owner and co-chair of *Time* magazine in 2018[5][2]. Recognized widely for his leadership, Benioff has received numerous honors including Forbes’ “Innovator of the Decade,” CNN Business CEO of 2020, and accolades for his commitment to equality and social impact[2]. He continues to lead Salesforce into emerging areas such as AI agents, maintaining a focus on innovation and social responsibility[6].