SAP Hires Julia White for CMO Post from Microsoft

January 20, 2021

SAP appointed Julia White and Scott Russell to the Executive Board. White will take a new Executive Board role as chief marketing and solutions officer. Russell will head SAP’s Customer Success organization. He will succeed Adaire Fox-Martin, who has informed the Supervisory Board that she will depart the company at the end of the month.

“We are very pleased to have both Julia and Scott join the Executive Board to help continue SAP’s strategic direction,” said Professor Hasso Plattner, chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP SE. “We would also like to thank Adaire for her long-standing contribution to the company.”

White joins SAP after spending nearly 20 years at Microsoft Corporation where she led product marketing for Microsoft Azure over the past five years. Previously White was responsible for product marketing for Microsoft Office 365 during the transition to the cloud. The U.S. citizen, 47, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from Stanford. White will be based in the United States and has been appointed to the Executive Board for a three-year-term effective March 1. She will strengthen SAP’s go-to-market approach with a focus on product, industry and digital marketing, as well as focus on bridging customer and ecosystem needs with product development.

“SAP is going through a critical transformation,” said White. “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.”

Russell brings more than 20 years of experience in sales, management, consulting and technology to his new role. As president of SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ), he was responsible for SAP’s extensive business growth and presence expansion in the APJ region for the past three years. Under his leadership, APJ has evolved to become one of SAP’s fastest-growing cloud markets globally. He has held several senior leadership positions across SAP and joined SAP from IBM in 2010. The Australian national, 47, has been appointed to the Executive Board for a three-year term effective February 1. Russell will continue to evolve SAP’s sales and services strategy — always putting customer success first and accelerating the company’s collaboration with the ecosystem.

“I am honored and would like to thank the Supervisory Board for putting trust in me,” said Russell. “With our industry-leading team, I will build on the great foundation laid by Adaire, who has my deepest respect for the leadership and foresight she demonstrated during our many years of close collaboration. Our future is bright, driving and accelerating the strategic digital transformation of our customers around the world.”

“I could not be happier to have these two exceptional leaders join our Executive Board,” said Christian Klein, CEO of SAP SE and member of the Executive Board. “Julia and Scott bring outstanding customer empathy coupled with strong experience in transformation and innovation. This sets us up perfectly for delivering on our strategic commitment to maximize customer success, foster co-innovation and amplify stakeholder value. The Executive Board and I welcome Julia and Scott. “

Klein continued: “Adaire has been a trusted partner for many years. She has always been an inspirational and empathetic leader. In 2020, she initiated the transformation of our sales, services and partner organization into what is now Customer Success. I wish her all the best.”

“It has been a great privilege to drive SAP’s success over the past years,” said Fox-Martin. “With the first phase of the Customer Success transformation now complete, the stage is set for SAP’s vision to be realized. I wish Christian, the Executive Board and SAP’s talented team every success as they drive the company forward.”