One of the major SAP leadership appointments this month is the promotion of Utkarsh Maheshwari to Senior regional VP and Head of Partner Ecosystem Success– succeeding Senior regional VP SAP Cloud leader and Channel Operations chief in the Asia Pacific and Japan, Ben Corser. SAP EMEA South, MEE, and Korea are also welcoming new leaders this year.
German software giant SAP ushered 2022 with the appointment of key executive roles in APJ, EMEA South, and South Korea to lead the company’s cloud growth, promising business outlook, and customer success.
SAP APJ’s New Partner Ecosystem Success Lead
Former Head of Business Development of the Asia Pacific and Japan and SAP veteran Utkarsh Maheshwari is now the region’s new Senior Vice President and Head of Partner Ecosystem Success. Based in Singapore, Maheshwari is taking charge of growing the SAP software enterprise’s partner ecosystem in APJ, engaging 2,000 SAP partners from all market units and business lines. In his 17 years in the tech industry– 14 of which with SAP– holding various leadership positions, he was able to share his expertise and passion in the digital economy across different key business areas including product development and marketing, field transformation, and human resources.
“In this role, I will be leading co-innovation with SAP partners across APJ to nurture an expert community of developers, investors, and ambassadors of digital transformation, and to help build the ecosystem of the future,” Maheshwari commented.
SAP APJ Chief Operating Officer Cathy Ward explained the critical role of the new Partner Ecosystem Success chief as the tech giant continues to grow globally in line with the accelerating customers’ digital transformation. She stressed:
“To respond to the increasing demand across the region, we need to more closely align and harness the power of our partner business to mutually deliver digital innovation that drives customer success.”
SAP EMEA South’s New Regional Chief
Emmanuel Raptopoulos, another long-serving SAP leader, has been appointed as regional President of EMEA South (Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) to lead 5,000 employees across 75 countries and 24 offices. He is steering the momentum of EMEA South’s cloud transformation as the new chief of a region that has a huge market contribution in SAP.
“EMEA South’s next decade will be driven by cloud growth, anchored by our purpose, people and partnerships and I am honored to take on this new role,” he said. “The region represents a dynamic market for SAP as agile organisations are transforming their businesses into Intelligent and Sustainable Enterprises via the cloud. I look forward to partnering with our great customers across this diverse region to innovate and thereby meaningfully contribute to their long-term success.”
Raptopoulos is directly reporting to SAP Executive Board member and Customer Success lead Scott Russell and is preceded by Claudio Muruzabal, who was recently promoted to President of SAP’s newly established global Cloud Success Services organisation.
Expressing encouraging words on Raptopoulos and Muruzabal’s new roles, Russell said:
“With Claudio Muruzabal as President of our global Cloud Success Services organisation, we are centering and optimising our talent around helping our customers maximise value in the cloud with SAP – at every single touchpoint in their lasting relationship with us. With the appointment of Emmanuel Raptopoulos as President of EMEA South, we are ensuring a seamless transition in the region for our customers, our partners, and our people. In addition to his deep and varied experience, he has a proven passion for the success of our customers and a strong track record of delivering it.”
SAP MEE’s New Lead
Industry expert and former Managing Director of SAP Germany Alex Klaeger has been appointed President of the Middle and Eastern Europe (MEE) region to lead the market units of Germany; Switzerland; Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Austria; and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) effective 1st of February. He had previously held the role of Chief Operating Officer and Head of Cloud business for the MEE region and had served on the SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG management team for six years.
Klaeger was preceded by Hartmut Thomsen and will be directly reporting Russell. Welcoming the new MEE chief, Russell commented:
“The appointment of Alex Klaeger, who brings exceptionally deep regional expertise, ensures a seamless experience and continuity of value for our customers across the MEE region as they continue to transition to the cloud.”
SAP Korea’s First Female CEO
Former SAP Korea Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vice President Shin Eun-young was promoted to CEO and President effective 6th January 2022.(InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) Since joining the company in 2008 as CFO, Shin has been a significant contributor to SAP Korea’s continuous business growth and transformation into a cloud company. Aside from being the first female chief of the software multinational’s unit in Korea, she is also the leader of SAP’s Business Women’s Network program advocating young talent and women’s career development.
Shin succeeded Lee Seong-yeo, who is now the SAP Korea Senior President guiding the management to help local organisations accelerate their journey to becoming intelligent enterprises.
