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by David R. Brousell, MA Editorial Staff   | Abstract: | Leo Apotheker, the newly crowned deputy CEO of SAP, may become the next chief of the world's largest enterprise software company. Is he in the right place at the right time? |
A company's executive succession plan often reveals a great deal about its view of itself, its market, and its future. For SAP, such a plan is beginning to take shape in the person of executive board member Leo Apotheker, who was named deputy CEO in April following the abrupt departure of Shai Agassi, the executive who ran SAP's key Product & Technology group. The original plan had called for Apotheker and Agassi to share responsibilities for running SAP at the conclusion of CEO Henning Kagermann's contract in 2009. Now, however, Apotheker has a clear shot at the top job. But who is Leo Apotheker and why is he in line to run the world's largest enterprise software company? Apotheker, who joined SAP in 1988 and heads the company's critical Customer Solutions & Operations organization, has never been a highly visible public face for SAP. That role had been filled by Agassi and, before him, founder Hasso Plattner. [Click to continue] |