- Leo Apotheker
Léo Apotheker (*
September 18 1953 inAachen , Germany) is co-CEO and a member of the Executive Board ofSAP AG . Léo Apotheker has been a member of the SAP AG Executive Board since 2002, promoted to co-CEO of the company in April 2008. In this role, he is responsible for all of SAP's customer operations including sales, marketing, consulting, education and training, SME, and field services. It is widely expected that Mr. Apotheker will be named the company's next "sole" CEO when CEOHenning Kagermann 's contract with the company expires in May 2009, at which point Mr. Kagermann might take on the role of Supervisory Board Chairman.News sources have extensively covered this future plan, including [http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/04/02/afx4844726.html this Forbes article] , with some additional details inShai Agassi 's Wikipedia entry.]Prior to this role, Mr. Apotheker was Deputy CEO from 2007 to 2008, member of the SAP AG Executive Board and President of Global Customer Solutions & Operations from 2002 to 2007, and President of SAP EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) from 1999 to 2002. Since joining SAP in 1988, Léo Apotheker has held other various positions within the company including CEO and founder of SAP France and SAP Belgium (1995-1997) and President of SAP’s South West Europe region (1997-1999).
During his career, Léo Apotheker has held management positions at a variety of companies in the IT industry. From 1994 to 1995, he was management partner at
ABP Partners , a strategic management consulting company specialized in global strategy definition and implementation and in restructuring of ailing software companies.Before joining ABP partners, he served as founding president and COO of ECsoft (1992-1994), one of the largest European venture capital startups. He also held positions at
McCormack & Dodge Europe and Swift.German-born and fluent in five languages (Dutch, English, French, German, and Hebrew), Léo Apotheker graduated in International Relations and Economics from the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board forAXA .In a ceremony in Paris on December 5, 2007, Léo Apotheker was honored with the French
Légion d'honneur . As the CEO and founder of SAP France and SAP Belgium, and later as president of SAP EMEA, Léo has played a key role in increasing competitive capabilities and innovation for French industries. Other recipients in 2007 include the CEOs ofSaint-Gobain , EDF,France Telecom ,SUEZ and, the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP Paribas ), all long-term SAP customers. The Legion of Honor award is the equivalent of the GermanBundesverdienstkreuz and the AmericanMedal of Freedom . It was established in 1802 byNapoleon Bonaparte to recognize deeds of outstanding achievements.External links
* [http://www.sap.com/company/executives/apotheker/index.epx SAP biography]
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