German software company SAP is saying goodbye to three top executives. In recent years, CTO Juergen Mueller, CMO Julia White, and CRO Scott Russell were SAP’s well-known faces. What’s going on at the top?
White and Russell had barely closed the door behind them at the end of August when SAP released the news in early September that Chief Technology Officer Mueller, too, is leaving the company at the end of the month. The departure of Chief Marketing Officer White and Chief Revenue Officer Russell still stemmed from a “strategic transition” during the “ongoing successful cloud transformation” in which the company found itself, but Mueller is leaving because of inappropriate behavior at a company event. The exact details of this behavior are unknown, but we will go into a little more detail later in this article.
This reduces the number of key people at SAP much faster than many companies would wish. Mueller, White, and Russell, along with CEO Christian Klein and head of Customer Service & Delivery Thomas Saueressig, were the five key players of recent years.
Mueller the biggest loss
Exactly how SAP will replace Mueller, White and Russell remains to be seen. There are several options: transferring duties to existing top executives, shifting internal employees to the Executive Board or recruiting top executives from outside. As far as we are concerned, a new person must be found for the vacant CTO position; these tasks cannot simply fall permanently under existing portfolios.
Mueller’s departure comes at an inopportune time. The TechEd conference, where SAP annually unveils its tech plans, will take place early October. The Business Technology Platform (BTP), which brings together all of SAP’s software solutions, plays a central role in it. As CTO, Mueller was responsible for the development of BTP and provided the keynote each year at TechEd, which he will have to miss this year. So a quick successor seems vital to ensure the technology direction.
Mueller was also one of SAP founder Hasso Plattner’s peers. He was educated at the affiliated Hasso Plattner Institute, after which he began his career within SAP and eventually became CTO. His knowledge and experience will be challenging to replace. For now, CEO Klein will assume his responsibilities within the Technology & Innovation Board. Saueressig, who worked closely with Mueller in his previous position as head of Product Engineering, will additionally lead the Global Security & Cloud Compliance team. SAP’s statement suggests that this last transfer will be permanent.
Inappropriate behavior raises questions about company culture
However, Mueller’s knowledge and ability stand in stark contrast to the news of his inappropriate behavior, which came out Tuesday. This incident was so serious that in consultation with the supervisory board it was decided to part ways with him. Mueller himself also commented on this: “I want to address an incident at a past company event where my behavior was inappropriate. I regret being inconsiderate and sincerely apologize to everyone affected. I recognize my behavior at that moment did not reflect our values at SAP. I take full responsibility and believe stepping down is best for the company. I wish the team continued success.”
In its image, SAP pays much attention to being a good employer with a positive corporate culture. For example, it has Diversity & Inclusion programs so that everyone feels at home within the company. Although we do not know the exact details of the incident at the company event, where Mueller behaved inappropriately, following values are important in creating a certain corporate culture.
The news about Mueller is déjà vu, though. Years ago, it came out, albeit based on anonymity, that employees were complaining of harassment and intimidation. At the time, people were also talking about notable company events, where excessive drinking was said to take place. The latter has not been confirmed in Mueller’s incident, and the full details will likely never come out, but we do wonder how advocating for a healthy corporate culture in 2024 corresponds to practice.
A future without White, Russell and Mueller
White’s departure also will not contribute to the diversity message SAP wants to convey. At the top, there is now only one woman: Gina Vargiu-Breuer. She has served as chief people officer and labor director since last August. Until now, however, she has been a much less prominent face than White was as CMO. Indeed, White has been part of keynotes at TechEd and has provided sessions at the annual Sapphire conference. Quite a few customers will know her.
Scott Russell was also well-known within the SAP community. He worked at SAP for more than a decade. From his position, he had a lot of contact with customers. Part of his duties included helping customers move to cloud ERP. Contact with large customers was often through Russell. So they should expect a new point of contact.
Departure was already in the air
Looking a little further into developments at the top of SAP, however, you can see that the groundwork for Russell’s departure may have been laid early this year. At the time, Saueressig advanced to the new position of head of Customer Service & Delivery. SAP characterized that appointment as a new era for the board, for which Saueressig would lead a newly created department. Saueressig will also now support customers in their cloud transformation, which is exactly a part of Russell’s old duties. They are, however, looking for a replacement for Russell. Meanwhile, Klein temporarily assumes responsibility for the sales organization.
Many of the responsibilities that White, Russell, and Mueller assumed will thus be absorbed, temporarily or otherwise, into Klein and Saueressig’s duties. New faces will arrive, but we will have to wait and see. The departure of White and Russell is further noteworthy, as only last year they signed contract extensions until 2027. According to SAP, the decision to part with them stems from a strategic transition, without giving too much additional info. “In the context of SAP’s ongoing successful cloud transformation, the SAP Supervisory Board believes now is the moment to embark on the next era of growth,” it said. Such a transformation apparently cannot happen with the former CMO and CRO.
Tip: Christian Klein: “SAP has the most modern cloud stack of all SaaS vendors”