SAP has announced the Supervisory Board has made two new additions to the Executive Board: Julia White, previously a Microsoft Executive, will be joining as chief marketing and solutions officer, and Scott Russell, moving over from his role as president of SAP in the Asia Pacific and Japan region will lead the Customer Success organisation, taking over from Adaire Fox-Martin.
During Julia White’s time at Microsoft she oversaw product marketing for Microsoft Azure for five years and before that she was head of marketing for Microsoft Office 365. She has an undergraduate degree from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and will be based for an initial three-year term in the U.S. where she will “focus on product, industry and digital marketing, as well as focus on bridging customer and ecosystem needs with product development” according to SAP News.
Commenting on her appointment to the board White said: “SAP is going through a critical transformation. It has a unique opportunity to help redefine how successful businesses run, and the leadership team has made bold and courageous commitments to accelerate their cloud innovation to this end. I am excited to contribute to that journey and thank the Supervisory Board for their confidence in me.”
As a SAP veteran of ten years Scott Russell was chosen to succeed Adaire Fox-Martin as Customer Success lead due (in part) to his leadership in bringing about the last three years of growth in the Asia Pacific and Japan region. Drawing on a background of 20 years in “sales, management, consulting and technology” Russell transformed the APJ region into one of SAP’s fastest growing global markets. His role will be to “continue to evolve SAP’s sales and services strategy — always putting customer success first and accelerating the company’s collaboration with the ecosystem”. This will build on the foundation laid down by Fox-Martin during her time in the position.
Adaire Fox-Martin used her period in the role to strengthen existing customer relationships and strategic partnerships and also co-innovation projects. She is responsible for transformational initiatives at SAP, particularly in relation to the shift to the cloud, and the creation of a new organisation called Customer First, whose purpose is to ensure the centrality of the customer at SAP.
Christian Klein, CEO of SAP SE and member of the executive board, described the intent behind the simultaneous appointment of Julia White and Scott Russell:
“ [They]… bring outstanding customer empathy coupled with strong experience in transformation and innovation. This sets us up perfectly for delivering on our strategic commitment to maximise customer success, foster co-innovation and amplify stakeholder value. The Executive Board and I welcome Julia and Scott.”
