SAP announce the appointment of Christian Klein to the SAP Executive Board

SAP today announced the appointment of Christian Klein to the SAP Executive Board, who is set to take his new role starting from January 1st 2018.

Klein, who is chief operating officer (COO) of SAP, will retain his current role. In the new board area, Global Business Operations, he will continue to work enterprise-wide to build a high-performance IT organisation as well as to achieve closer integration among all board areas. Global Business Operations will coordinate the internal activities at SAP that support the Run Simple program, drive simplification and modernisation of core business processes and align them with SAP’s cloud and platform strategy.

SAP is setting the course for its digital transformation and transition to a cloud company. The goal is to create a stronger organization that makes faster decisions, shows internal agility and flexibility and is ready to face new challenges in the fast-changing technology industry.

“With Christian Klein, we have a proven expert for this major responsibility,” said Professor Hasso Plattner, chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP SE. “He knows SAP very well. Despite his youth, he has the necessary background to make our organization and processes even faster, more efficient and ready for future challenges. His appointment is further evidence that SAP identifies young talent internally at an early stage and promotes them to management roles.”

Klein said, “I look forward to driving consistent, continual digital transformation at SAP. The experience we gain on this journey benefits us, but ultimately benefits all our customers, who are also transforming to stay competitive in a digital future.”

Christian Klein, 37, has served as COO of SAP since April 1, 2016. His role included optimisation of internal processes, development of an automated and integrated IT infrastructure and controlling. Klein joined SAP in 1999 as a student. He holds a diploma in international business administration from the University of Cooperative Education in Mannheim, Germany.

Follow Christian Klein on Twitter @ChrstnKlein. To find out more about the SAP SE Executive board, head over to SAP's team page. To keep up to date with the latest news and information from SAP, make sure you're following UKISUG on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.