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SAP SE, a German software developer headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, revealed that Dr. h.c. Punit Renjen has resigned as the company's Deputy Chairperson of the Supervisory Board. The board also said it nominated Pekka Ala-Pietilä as the successor of Chairman Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner.
Reason for Resignation from the Supervisory Board
Renjen's resignation comes ahead of Plattner's, who is set to retire this year. SAP did not elaborate on the reason for Renjen's resignation but mentioned that the decision was mutual due to the "difference in perspective on the role of SAP Supervisory Board," as per Constellation Research. He will officially vacate his post on May 15.
SAP's leadership reshuffle is being carried out as management undergoes multiple transitions, including moving customers to the cloud and integrating and popularizing artificial intelligence (AI) across its business applications.
Supervisory Board Election
Ala-Pietilä is now a leading nominee to take over Plattner's role as chairman of the supervisory board, which he has held since 2003. Plattner also co-founded SAP.
At any rate, the 67-year-old Ala-Pietilä is expected to stand for the upcoming election and seek a two-year term. This will be held on May 15 at the company's annual meeting. The changes in the Supervisory Board come just a month after Muhammad Alam was appointed to replace Thomas Saueressig as SAP's head of product engineering.
Bloomberg reported that the nominee to become chairman was already a member of the SAP supervisory board. Ala-Pietilä also served as the chair of the EU Commission's High-Level Expert Group on AI from 2018 to 2020 and led Finland's Artificial Intelligence Program from 2017 to 2019.
Once he takes over at SAP, he is expected to bring "vision and a well-measured approach" to ensure SAP's success. He will mainly focus on developing and deploying SAP's Business AI. Meanwhile, the officials chose Ala-Pietilä to replace Renjen, whom the board initially nominated for the chairmanship.
Photo by: SAP News Center
