Hasso Plattner

Prof. Dr. h.c. Hasso Plattner is one of founders of SAP and has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board since May 2003. In this role and as Chief Software Advisor he concentrates on defining the medium and long term technology strategy of SAP. He also heads the Technology Committee of the SAP Supervisory Board.

In 1972 Hasso Plattner and four colleagues left IBM in order to found SAP (Systems, Applications, Products). Based in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is the leading provider of enterprise software solutions integrating processes within and among enterprises and business communities.

When SAP went public in 1988 Hasso was appointed Vice Chairman of the Executive Board. From 1997 to May 2003 he was Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of SAP. In May 2003 he was elected to the SAP Supervisory Board and took over the chairmanship from co-founder Dietmar Hopp.

Hasso received his Master’s Degree in Communications Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe. In 1990 the University of Saarbruecken awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 1994 he was granted an honorary full professorship. In 1997, as chairman of SAP America Inc., co-chairman of SAP and as chief architect of SAP R/3, Hasso received the Information Technology Leadership Award for Global Integration as part of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program. In 1998 he was inducted into the German Hall of Fame. In 2002 Hasso Plattner was appointed Honorary Doctor and in 2004 Honorary Professor by the University of Potsdam.

In 1998 Hasso Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for IT Systems Engineering at the University of Potsdam with the largest single private contribution to a university ever made in Germany. Through his continuing financial support he helps the HPI in its efforts to become a centre for the professional education of world-class software specialists.