Henning Kagermann (born 12 July 1947) is a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and businessman. He was the former chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of SAP.

Early life and education

Born in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, Kagermann studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

in Braunschweig and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. He received his doctorate degree in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

in 1975 from the

TU Braunschweig The Technische Universität Braunschweig (unofficially University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology), commonly referred to as TU Braunschweig, is the oldest ' (comparable to an institute of technology in the American system) in Germany ...

and was promoted to professor there in 1980. He taught physics and computer science at TU Braunschweig and

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Academy of Science ...

from 1980 to 1992.

Career at SAP

Kagermann joined SAP in 1982 and was initially responsible for product development in the areas of cost accounting and controlling. Together with

Hasso Plattner Hasso Plattner (born 21 January 1944) is a German businessman. A co-founder of SAP SE software company, he has been chairman of the supervisory board of SAP SE since May 2003. As of August 2020, '' Forbes'' reported that he possessed a net worth ...

, co-founder of SAP, he was co-chairman of the SAP Executive Board and CEO from 1998 to 2003. During that period, his responsibilities included sales, global customer relations, strategic development projects and consulting. Following Plattner's election as chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board in May 2003, Kagermann became sole chairman of the SAP Executive Board and CEO. At the time, he had overall responsibility for SAP's strategy, business development and also oversaw the areas of global communications, global

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

, internal audit and talent management. In the following years, he increased SAP's share of the market for enterprise resource planning (ERP) programs with more than one function from 35% to 43%. Also under his leadership, SAP acquired Franco-US software

BusinessObjects Business Objects (BO, BOBJ, or BObjects) was an enterprise software company, specializing in business intelligence (BI). Business Objects was acquired in 2007 by German company SAP AG. The company claimed more than 46,000 customers in its final ea ...

for €4.8 billion. In a 2005 reorganisation,

Léo Apotheker Léo Apotheker (born 18 September 1953) is a German business executive. He served briefly as the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from November 2010 until his dismissal in September 2011. He also served as co-chief executive officer o ...

assumed additional responsibility for marketing from Kagermann, who instead focused on strategy. In 2007, Kagermann's contract was extended to 2009. Shortly after, he overhauled the company's management again after the surprise resignation of

Shai Agassi Shai Agassi ( he, שי אגסי, born April 19, 1968) is an Israeli entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Better Place, which had developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel techn ...

, its top software executive. For several months in 2008, he led the company alongside Apotheker instead. Kagermann retired in May 2009, when his term expired after several extensions.

Political activities

During and after his time at SAP, Kagermann became a close adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel on technology. From May 2010, he chaired the German National Platform for Electric Mobility. Later that year, Merkel appointed Kagermann to chair a working group on innovation policy. In 2014, he accompanied Merkel on an official visit to China. In June 2009, Kagermann assumed the office of the president of acatech – German Academy of Science and Engineering. He is also known as one of the main proponents of the concept of Industry 4.0, which applies increased digitisation and the Internet of Things and Services to industrial production. In 2012, a working group led by Kagerman proposed the idea to the Federal Government of Germany. In 2016, Kagermann was appointed by Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure

Alexander Dobrindt Alexander Dobrindt (born 7 June 1970) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Between 2013 and 2017, he served as Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the government of Chancellor Angela Mer ...

to serve on the German government's Ethics Commission on Autonomous Driving.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Mambu, Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors (since 2018) * KUKA, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2017) *

WIPRO Wipro Limited (formerly, Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited) is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. Thierry Delaporte is serving as CEO and managing direct ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2009) *

Deutsche Post The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2009–2019) * Munich Re, Member of the Supervisory Board (-2019) *

Deutsche Bank AG Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stoc ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2000–2018) * Haniel, Member of the Supervisory Board (2012–2016) * BMW, Member of the Supervisory Board (2010–2015) *

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (2007–2014)

Non-profit organisations

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees * Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, Member of the Honorary Senate *

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied science, applied and Natural sci ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Max Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI-INF), Member of the Board of Trustees *

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

, Member of the SenateSenate, as of April 6, 2020

Recognition

Kagermann holds an honorary doctorate from the

University of Magdeburg The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg () (''OvGU'') was founded in 1993, making it one of the youngest universities in Germany. The university is located in Magdeburg, the Capital city of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 13.000 students in n ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kagermann, Henning 1947 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Mannheim German chief executives German corporate directors Businesspeople from Braunschweig Science teachers SAP SE people Technical University of Braunschweig alumni Academic staff of the Technical University of Braunschweig Nokia people Directors of BMW German chairpersons of corporations Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering