The Successor to Christian Klein

One reliable indicator of the prevailing power structures at SAP is the annual keynote speech delivered at the DSAG annual congress. As anticipated, SAP board member Thomas Saueressig will be presenting at the event in Leipzig this year. Will the new SAP CEO make an announcement in Leipzig?

SAP has had a different CEO in each era. Professor Henning Kagermann was tasked with a particularly challenging responsibility. He was the first CEO who was not among the SAP founders. He served as a mediator, a visionary, and a pragmatist. He successfully steered the global ERP market leader through numerous challenges and crises thanks to this blend of qualities. However, the transition to a suitable successor was already challenging, and Professor Hasso Plattner faced difficulties in aligning the various interests.

Chief Technology Officer Shai Agassi had ambitious career goals that were in direct competition with those of Henning Kagermann. Hasso Plattner made the strategic decision to form the first SAP dual leadership, comprising Henning Kagermann and Léo Apotheker, who assumed the role of CEO shortly after Shai Agassi's departure. Professor Kagermann relocated to Berlin, where he provided consultancy to Angela Merkel on matters related to electromobility and other areas.

In the following years, there was a high turnover on the SAP Executive Board. However, the principle that each era has its own specific CEO remained in place. Following Léo Apotheker, the company operated under a dual leadership structure, with Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott serving as co-CEOs. However, this arrangement followed a similar trajectory to the initial dual leadership period. Hagemann Snabe subsequently resigned from the SAP Executive Board and assumed the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Siemens in Munich, Germany. Bill McDermott continued to spearhead the global ERP market leader's transition into the cloud era.

After Bill McDermott, SAP again had a dual leadership with Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein. However, co-CEO Klein had the better cards and the shorter path to Professor Hasso Plattner, so Jennifer Morgan soon had to leave, leaving Christian Klein to take the helm alone. He had his work cut out for him. Bill McDermott's achievements and acquisitions needed to be consolidated. Klein cleaned up the mess and created streamlined structures. Together with CFO Dominik Asam, he is now successfully managing SAP's legacy. The existing resources and potential are being used wisely, and the SAP share price has risen to over 200 EUR.

CEO Christian Klein also secured his position through shrewd personnel decisions—and so the Walldorf Boys Club was formed, consisting of Board Members Christian Klein, Jürgen Müller, and Thomas Saueressig.

Jürgen Müller had a special position in this triumvirate. He received his doctorate from the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam and was appointed to the Executive Board with the support of Hasso Plattner, Chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board. While Christian Klein is the brainchild of former SAP Executive Board member and current Supervisory Board member Gerd Oswald—Klein was Oswald's assistant for many years—Müller is the brainchild of Hasso Plattner.

At the beginning of his career on the SAP Executive Board, Christian Klein was a good strategist. He read the mood and reactions of the then chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board, Professor Hasso Plattner. Klein stepped forward, schemed against his co-CEO Jennifer Morgan, and after a few months of dual leadership, became the sole head of SAP.

In Jürgen Müller, Christian Klein not only had a harmless and inexperienced colleague on the board, but he was also doing Professor Hasso Plattner a favor.

Klein was also fortunate in his choice of board member Thomas Saueressig, who initially appeared more soft-spoken. But Saueressig quickly developed his management skills. He triumphed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and conquered more and more strategic areas at SAP. Today, Thomas Saueressig is considered the most important and strategically best positioned member of the SAP Executive Board.

After the surprise departure of Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller, the current SAP Executive Board has a new boys' club: Christian Klein, Thomas Saueressig, and CFO Dominik Asam. They all work well together and have found a solid working arrangement.

CEO Christian Klein and CFO Dominik Asam manage the ERP company and maintain the share price, while Thomas Saueressig takes care of the strategic direction. It therefore seems obvious that Thomas Saueressig will soon take over from Christian Klein at the helm of SAP after the departure of Jürgen Müller.