Top Oracle executive Thomas Kurian is taking “extended time off” from the software company. The move may signal a leadership shakeup at Oracle as it gears up for its annual convention next month.

Kurian is responsible for leading Oracle’s shift to a cloud technology company, which has been a rough transition as it struggles to compete against cloud giants like Amazon and Microsoft. His title is president of Oracle product development. In this role, Kurian reports directly to Oracle Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO Larry Ellison, not co-CEOs Safra Catz and Mark Hurd.

Kurian started working at Oracle in 1996.

In an email to employees Kurian said he was taking “extended time off from Oracle,” according to CNBC, which first reported on his departure. “I am so very proud of all that we have accomplished together and so grateful for having had the opportunity to help you on that journey [to the cloud],” Kurian wrote in the email.

Neither Kurian nor an Oracle spokesperson immediately responded to questions about his leave and when he might return.

The time off comes a little more than a month before Oracle OpenWorld, the company’s annual conference that pulls upwards of 60,000 attendees to San Francisco every year. It kicks off on Oct. 22.