Shai Agassi

Shai Agassi ( _he. שי אגסי, born 1968) is Founder and CEO of Better Place (formerly known as Project Better Place). Previously, Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group (PTG) at SAP AG. He resigned from this position on March 28 effective April 1, 2007, to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change. In October 2007 he founded a company named Project Better Place, focusing on a green transportation infrastructure based on electric cars as an alternative to the current fossil fuel technology.

He was next in line for the position of CEO of SAP after Henning Kagermann vacated that space in 2007. However, Mr. Kagermann's contract as CEO was extended until 2009 by the supervisory board. This led Shai to resign, though he was always enterprising and looking to steer SAP from 2007. [Agassi, Shai. (2007-03-28) [https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/6168 "New Challenges & Farewell"] , SAP Community Network] [(2007-03-28) [http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20070328/SFW09728032007-1.html Press release:"SAP Realigns Executive Board Responsibilities"] , PR Newswire] Rumour has it that once he resigned, the job was offered immediately jointly with Leo Apotheker, and he declined it. [(2008-02-28) [http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10766460&CFID=15298428&CFTOKEN=9ff046ac2751e12e-7D274411-B27C-BB00-012758D40CBE3674 "From geeks to greens"] , Economist.com]

At SAP he was responsible for SAP's overall technology strategy and execution. In this leadership position, he oversaw the development of the integration and application platform SAP NetWeaver, SAP xApps packaged composite applications, SAP SRM, and SAP Business One. Before his appointment to the SAP Executive Board, Agassi was CEO of SAP Portals and later of the combined company SAP Markets and SAP Portals, which previously operated as a fully owned subsidiary of SAP AG. He was appointed to the SAP Executive Board in 2002. Together with the head of the Application Platform & Architecture (AP&A) group, Peter Zencke, Agassi co-led the Suite Architecture Team, which aligns the software architecture across all SAP solutions.

A software entrepreneur, Agassi founded TopTier Software (originally called Quicksoft Development) in Israel in 1992 and later moved the company's headquarters to California. Agassi served the company in various capacities including chairman, chief technology officer, and then CEO. He was directly involved in all critical phases of the company's development, including its strategic plan, technical direction and financing, management of two acquisitions, and negotiation of OEM agreements with companies such as SAP, Baan, and Microsoft. TopTier was a leading enterprise portal vendor when SAP acquired the company in April 2001.

In addition to TopTier Software, Agassi co-founded several other companies with his father, Reuven Agassi, including Quicksoft Ltd., a leading multimedia software localization and distribution company in the Israeli market; TopManage, a developer of small business software that was also acquired by SAP in April 2002 (which became SAP Business One, the small business offering by SAP); and Quicksoft Media, a multimedia production company that ceased operations in 1995.

Agassi graduated with honors from Technion where he received a Bachelor's degree in computer science.

Better Place

In January 2008, the Israeli government announced its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars, embracing a joint venture between Better Place, Renault and its partner, Nissan Motor Company. Renault and Better Place are working on development of exchangeable batteries. [citeweb | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/world/middleeast/21israel.html?ref=world | title=Israel Is Set to Promote the Use of Electric Cars | date=2008-01-21 | accessdate=2008-02-07 | publisher=New York Times] [citeweb | url=http://www.projectbetterplace.com/press-room/press-releases/renault-nissan-and-project-better-place-prepare-first-mass-produced-electr | title=Renault-Nissan and Project Better Place prepare for first mass produced electric vehicles | date=2008-01-21 | accessdate=2008-02-07]

Agassi has raised 200 million dollars for this project, one of the largest and fastest seed rounds in history. Investors include VantagePoint Venture Partners, Israel Corporation, Israel Cleantech Ventures, Morgan Stanley, and private investors led by Michael Granoff of Maniv Energy Capital. [citeweb | url=http://cleantech-israel.blogspot.com/2008/04/michael-granoff-leading-cleantech.html | title=Michael Granoff, leading cleantech investor, interviewed by Ynet | accessdate=2008-05-12 | date=2008-04-15 | publisher= Cleantech Investing in Israel]

In April 2008, Deutsche Bank analysts reportedly concluded that the company's approach could be a "paradigm shift" that causes "massive disruption" to the auto industry, and which has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine altogether." [citeweb | url=http://cleantech-israel.blogspot.com/2008/04/deutsche-bank-project-better-place-has.html | title=Deutsche Bank: Project Better Place has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine" | accessdate=2008-05-29 | date=2008-04-15 | publisher= Cleantech Investing in Israel]

References

External links

* [https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/u/6806 Shai Agassi's SAP blog]
* [http://shaiagassi.typepad.com The Long Tailpipe] , Shai Agassi writes about enterprise software and alternative energy
* [http://www.betterplace.com Better Place]
* [http://edcorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1684 Physics, Timing and Happiness] , Shai Agassi speaks at Stanford
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27friedman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin NYTimes article on Shai Agassi's Better Place efforts]
* [http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=4956 Jewlicious article on Shai Agassi and Electric Car Evangelism]