Future is secured

After the SAP Annual General Meeting last week, a discussion began about the remaining term of office of Supervisory Board Chairman Professor Hasso Plattner. Naturally, Plattner does not want to lay all his cards on the table yet, but for insiders and connoisseurs of Walldorf circumstances it is clear - everything is in the green! The die is cast: It is highly likely that Gerd Oswald will be Hasso Plattner's successor.

No one knows the global SAP community quite like Oswald, with perhaps one exception, more on that later. Gerd Oswald was responsible for numerous tasks on the SAP Executive Board for a long time and has been a member of the SAP Supervisory Board for a few years now. Oswald is not only in constant contact with his supervisory board chairman Plattner, but also with the legendary SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp - they meet in the soccer stadium.

During his active time, Oswald was frequently on site with large existing customers and also regularly visited China. He knows all the needs and concerns of SAP's existing customers and regularly negotiated with the German-speaking SAP user group (DSAG e.V.). Provided he is in good health, Gerd Oswald is probably the best man for the chairmanship of the SAP Supervisory Board.

But SAP has many excellent candidates for this important task. Ex-SAP board member Michael Kleinemeier is not yet on the supervisory board. He is perhaps more critical of Plattner than Oswald is in his complete loyalty. But Kleinemeier is just as accomplished and would therefore also be ideally suited for the task if Oswald cancels at short notice.

Oswald and Kleinemeier have a long and very successful working relationship on the SAP Executive Board, and when Oswald retired, Kleinemeier took over his duties. The future of SAP thus seems to be secure in every respect.