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Biography
Henning Kagermann (born 12 July 1947 in Braunschweig) is a German physicist and businessman. He was the former chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of SAP AG.
Career
Academic
Kagermann studied physics in Braunschweig and Munich. He received his doctorate degree in theoretical physics in 1975 from the TU Braunschweig, Germany, and was promoted to professor there in 1980. He taught physics and computer science at TU Braunschweig and University of Mannheim, both in Germany, from 1980-1992. Kagermann also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Magdeburg, Germany, and is a trustee of the Technical University of Munich. He is also a member of the honorary senate of the Foundation Lindau Nobel Prizewinners.
In June 2009, Kagermann assumed the office of the president of acatech – German Academy of Science and Engineering.
Business career
Kagermann joined SAP in 1982 and was initially responsible for product development in the areas of cost accounting and controlling.
Together with Hasso Plattner, co-founder of SAP, he was co-chairman of the SAP Executive Board and CEO From 1998 to 2003. Following Plattner's election as chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board in May 2003, Kagermann became sole chairman of the SAP Executive Board and CEO until he retired in May 2009. Kagermann had overall responsibility for SAP's strategy, business development and also oversaw the areas of global communications, global intellectual property, internal audit, and talent management.
Later career
Board memberships
Kagermann is currently a member of the supervisory boards of Deutsche Bank AG and Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG (Munich Re) in Germany, and in 2007 was made a member of the board of directors of Nokia Corporation. In October 2009, WIPRO also appointed Kagermann to its board of directors.
In May 2012, Kagermann became member of the Haniel board.
Political activities
Since May 2010, Kagermann has been chairing the German National Platform for Electric Mobility.
Kagermann is also known as one of the main proponents of the concept of Industry 4.0, which applies increased digitization and the Internet of Things and Services to industrial production. In 2012, a working group led by Kagerman proposed the idea to the Federal Government of Germany.
In 2016, Kagermann was appointed by Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt to serve on the German government’s Ethics Commission on Autonomous Driving.