Walldorf, Germany - February 11, 2010, Walldorf, Germany - SAP AG, an IT company, announced several changes to its executive board and management structure.
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Gerhard Oswald, Executive Board member responsible for SAP Global Service & Support, has also been named chief operating officer, replacing Erwin Gunst, who stepped down for health reasons. Mr. Oswald has been a member of the Executive Board of SAP AG since 1996.
Mr. Oswald is responsible for SAP Consulting, SAP Eduction, SAP Custom Development, SAP Active Global Support, and Quality Governance & Production. Mr. Oswald joined SAP in 1981 where he was instrumental in the development of the sales support network for SAP R/2, responsible for quality control.
Mr. Oswald then assumed responsibility for quality control in the critical development project of SAP R/3 software. From 1987 until 1993, Mr. Oswald was a member of the project management team responsible for the conception, development, and delivery of SAP's flagship enterprise resource planning software, SAP R/3. Following the completion of this project in 1993, Mr. Oswald was appointed to the SAP Extended Management Board. In 1994, he assumed responsibility for the SAP R/3 Services division.
Two years later Mr. Oswald was appointed a member of the Executive Board. Mr. Oswald began his career at Siemens AG, as an applications consultant for SAP R/2 business processes from 1977 to 1980. Mr. Oswald studied business administration at the University of Mainz, Germany.
The SAP Supervisory Board has accepted the resignation of John Schwarz, member of the Executive Board responsible for SAP BusinessObjects, Ecosystem & Corporate Development, effective immediately.
Mr. Schwarz is a member of the Executive Board of SAP AG responsible for SAP BusinessObjects, the Global Ecosystem & Partner Group, and Corporate Development.
Mr. Schwarz joined SAP through the acquisition of Business Objects in January 2008 and was elected to the executive board in March 2008. In January 2009, Mr. Schwarz accepted the additional responsibilities for all partners and corporate development activities for SAP on a global scale.
Previously, Mr. Schwarz was the CEO of Business Objects, prior to that he was president and chief operating officer of Symantec Corporation. Before joining Symantec, Mr. Schwarz spent 25 years at IBM Corporation, working in various development, manufacturing, sales, and marketing roles. Mr. Schwarz's last position was general manager of IBM's Industry Solutions unit, a worldwide organization focused on building business applications and related services for IBM's large industry customers. Mr. Schwarz currently also serves as a director of the Synopsys Corporation.
Mr. Schwarz has degrees in business administration from the University of Toronto and in computer science from the University of Manitoba. In 2004, Mr. Schwarz received an honorary doctorate from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ■