The global and independent platform for the SAP community.

Special News: Bernd Leukert leaves SAP

Good connoisseurs of SAP history are getting queasy, albeit with a sense of déjà vu. Professor Hasso Plattner meets Shai Agassi and officially makes him Chief Technology Officer and unofficially his "foster son.
E-3 Magazine
February 21, 2019
Special News
avatar
This text has been automatically translated from German to English.

But the "father-son relationship" did not last long and Plattner became aware of the mathematician Vishal Sikka in Palo Alto (California, USA). He was quickly adopted and established as the company's chief technology officer.

Sikka was allowed to present the SAP database Hana and wanted to see it, as a continuation of SAP MaxDB, at least "open source". There was another rift at SAP: Vishal Sikka had to leave overnight.

There were rumors on Friday, the Supervisory Board met on Sunday evening and Bernd Leukert presented himself as the new Chief Technology Officer on Monday. That was in 2014, and since midnight on Thursday, February 21, 2019, Leukert is no longer a member of the SAP Executive Board.

Before that, he had to give up his engineering job to the new "Plattner stepson," Jürgen Müller, who earned his doctorate at the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam.

Bernd Leukert would have succeeded Executive Board member Michael Kleinemeier in the Digital Business Services division. Leukert was once prepared for this role by ex-SAP Executive Board member Gerd Oswald (current SAP Supervisory Board member) because Kleinemeier was planning to retire at the end of 2019.

Michael Kleinemeier has now extended his contract by one year and will have to look for a new successor. It is not yet known what Bernd Leukert will do and it is also not known whether Gerd Oswald considers this development to be the right one from the perspective of an SAP Supervisory Board member.

The fact is, however, that years of personnel planning at SAP are currently imploding: Leukert will not succeed Oswald Kleinemeier, and the new SAP Chief Technology Officer is not Björn Goerke but Jürgen Müller - you have to study in Potsdam.

Goerke is currently the subject of a hot SAP community rumor that he is to switch to Google. SAP CEO Bill McDermott does not have an easy year ahead of him and if the SAP share price does not soon exceed the 100 euro mark, McDermott will also have to fear for his job.

avatar
E-3 Magazine

Information and educational outreach by and for the SAP community.


Write a comment

Working on the SAP basis is crucial for successful S/4 conversion. 

This gives the Competence Center strategic importance for existing SAP customers. Regardless of the S/4 Hana operating model, topics such as Automation, Monitoring, Security, Application Lifecycle Management and Data Management the basis for S/4 operations.

For the second time, E3 magazine is organizing a summit for the SAP community in Salzburg to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of S/4 Hana groundwork.

Venue

FourSide Hotel Salzburg,
Trademark Collection by Wyndham
Am Messezentrum 2, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
+43-66-24355460

Event date

Wednesday, June 10, and
Thursday, June 11, 2026

Early Bird Ticket

Regular ticket

EUR 390 excl. VAT
available until 1.10.2025
EUR 590 excl. VAT

Venue

Hotel Hilton Heidelberg
Kurfürstenanlage 1
D-69115 Heidelberg

Event date

Wednesday, April 22 and
Thursday, April 23, 2026

Tickets

Regular ticket
EUR 590 excl. VAT
Subscribers to the E3 magazine
reduced with promocode STAbo26
EUR 390 excl. VAT
Students*
reduced with promocode STStud26.
Please send proof of studies by e-mail to office@b4bmedia.net.
EUR 290 excl. VAT
*The first 10 tickets are free of charge for students. Try your luck! 🍀
The event is organized by the E3 magazine of the publishing house B4Bmedia.net AG. The presentations will be accompanied by an exhibition of selected SAP partners. The ticket price includes attendance at all presentations of the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2026, a visit to the exhibition area, participation in the evening event and catering during the official program. The lecture program and the list of exhibitors and sponsors (SAP partners) will be published on this website in due course.