SAP: Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Stepping Down Next Year

SAP AG (SAP) announced yesterday that co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snab will be stepping down from his current role as the company’s co-CEO and member of the company’s executive board to transition to the company’s supervisory board in May 2014, leaving co-CEO Bill McDermott as the company’s sole CEO.

The proposal to elect Snabe to the company’s supervisory board at the SAP Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in May 2014 is supported by at least 25 percent of the shareholders, the company said.

Snabe said in his prepared remarks that he’s moving to the next phase of his career to move closer to his family.

“What the entire SAP team has achieved since 2010 is remarkable, and the momentum we have built is now driving the transformation of the industry,” he said. “I would be honored to continue my commitment to SAP in serving as a member of the supervisory board, building on the partnership and friendship with Bill McDermott and the entire global managing board, to further accelerate SAP’s success.”

Sabe focused his keynote at SAP Sapphire Now this year on SAP HANA, pointing to the solution’s role in various industries, including health care and retail.

“We are committed to deliver the most exciting user experience in the industry,” he said. Moving all data into main memory, moving all systems to the cloud, and enormous attention on the user.”

McDermott, meanwhile, noted during his keynote speech at Sapphire Now that cloud solutions are a top priority for the company, with SAP investing in more than $8 billion in cloud solutions, according to the company,

“With two of the best leaders in the industry, now I can look to bring Jim’s experience and energy to the SAP Supervisory Board, and be sure SAP is firmly in the hands of a visionary leader with Bill as sole CEO,” said Hasso Plattner, co-founder of SAP and chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board, in a prepared statement.

SAP recently launched a new cloud-based analytics service called SAP Consumer Insight 365 Mobile Service to provide deep insights into consumer preferences to its customers.