SAP Board to Name Apotheker Co-CEO: Source

The board of software maker SAP (NYSE: SAP) is set to agree to the appointment of Deputy Chief Executive Leo Apotheker as joint CEO on Wednesday, paving the way for him to become sole CEO when Henning Kagermann retires next year.

Media reports and an industry source with knowledge of the matter have said SAP’s supervisory board will endorse Apotheker, an SAP veteran of 19 years who currently runs the company’s customer operations, including sales and marketing.

SAP has declined to comment on whether the supervisory board is meeting or what it may discuss. “The supervisory board will decide on any changes in the executive board,” a spokesman said, without elaborating.

Apotheker, 54, was appointed deputy CEO a year ago at SAP, the world’s biggest maker of business software applications designed to help companies automate and manage payrolls, customers or supply chains.

His appointment came in the wake of the sudden departure of wunderkind Shai Agassi, then 38, a protégé of Hasso Plattner, the SAP co-founder and supervisory board chief who had been groomed for the top job but was unwilling to wait for Kagermann to retire.

Kagermann, 60, had his contract extended by two years in 2007. He was co-CEO of the German software maker together with Plattner from 1998 to 2003, when he became sole CEO.