Bill McDermott, who until only a couple of weeks ago led SAP as it’s CEO, is taking over the reins at ServiceNow. The announcement also solves the mystery of why he suddenly decided to leave SAP. He is expected to join ServiceNow and take up his duties near the end of the year.
Interestingly, the current ServiceNow CEO John Donahoe will be taking up the mantle at Nike. Mark Parker, the long-time CEO at Nike is joining the board as chairman.
Speaking about McDermott’s decision to join ServiceNow, Jeff Miller, lead independent director on the ServiceNow board of directors said:
His global experience and proven track record will provide for a smooth transition and continued strong leadership. Bill will further enhance ServiceNow’s momentum and reputation as a digital workflows leader committed to customer success, and as a preferred strategic partner enabling enterprise digital transformation.
McDermott has had a good, long run at SAP, having spent almost 2-decades at the firm, with almost 10 as its CEO.
Speaking about his decision to leave with TechCrunch, he said:
I’m not afraid to make decisions. That’s one of the things I’m known for. This one, I did a lot of deep soul searching. I really did think about it very heavily — and I know that it’s the right time and that’s why I’m so happy. When you can make decisions from a position of strength, you’re always happy.
Meanwhile, keeping with the recent trend of having two CEOs in transition periods, SAP will have Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein will lead SAP as co-CEOs for now. Whether that’s a temporary arrangement or a permanent one however, remains to be seen.
Interestingly, McDermott is trading the CEO-ship at a older, larger organization for the top position at a newer, much smaller company. For instance, ServiceNow has around 10,000 employees as compared to 100,000 at SAP. The former was formed in 2004 as a SaaS company while the latter started as a traditional on-premise company and slowly transitioned into cloud.
