SAP's Schwarz resigns
SAP's John Schwarz, who ran SAP's BusinessObjects unit, has resigned. Meanwhile, the company named Gerhard Oswald as chief operating officer in the second management shakeup in a week at SAP.
On Sunday, SAP CEO Leo Apotheker left the company. He was replaced by co-CEOs Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott. It's been a busy week for SAP. Dennis Howlett detailed the play-by-play from CEO Leo Apotheker’s resignation on Sunday to Plattner’s conference call Monday morning.
Also see: Can SAP rebuild trust and innovation? SAP: New leadership, same old story? All SAP resources and alerts.
Among the latest moving parts (statement):
- Oswald becomes chief operating officer to replace Erwin Gunst, who stepped down for health reasons. Oswald had been in charge of SAP service and support. Oswald joined SAP's executive board in 1996 and has a contract that runs through 2011.
- Schwarz stepped down effective immediately.
- Peter Lorenz, executive vice president of small and midsized enterprises, is now a corporate officer. He reports to Snabe and oversees Business ByDesign, Business One and Business All-in-One.
Of the moves, Schwarz's resignation is the most noteworthy. Schwarz joined SAP via the acquisition of BusinessObjects. SAP chairman said he regretted that Schwarz, who integrated BusinessObjects well, resigned.
For his part, Schwarz said that his decision to leave "gives me an opportunity to step back and think through how I can continue to contribute to an industry of which I have been part for 38 years."
Also: SAP: Hasso Plattner back at the helm. Job no.1: rebuild trust