Washington, DC June 27, 2002 German software giant SAP AG chose the E-Gov 2002 exhibition this week as the forum to announce that it will headquarter its global public services development hub in Washington, D.C., saying that the new office will position the enterprise resource planning (ERP) company to more effectively support the needs of the U.S. public sector market.
The office, to be headed by SAP's U.S. market sales executive, will also lead the company's efforts to develop and market solutions for public sector organizations worldwide.
"By locating the leadership and expanding the presence of our public sector development organization in the United States, SAP is well positioned to further increase our focus on the growing U.S. market while, at the same time, maintaining our level of commitment and presence in Europe and around the world," said Henning Kagermann, co-chairman and CEO of SAP AG, in a statement.
Tom Shirk, who has led SAP's sales efforts to the federal, state, county and local governments as president of SAP Public Services since August 2000, will head up the company's effort to develop and market products around the world from Washington, D.C. Shirk will oversee global product strategy, global market analysis and management of overall operations.
Shirk has been responsible for sales, marketing, consulting, support and development for clients in the federal, state, and local government, higher education, utilities, health care, and not-for-profit business sectors in the United States. Prior to his appointment to SAP Public Services, Shirk founded and spent seven years with SAP Japan and served as chief operating officer for both field operations and SAP Labs Tokyo.
"Tom's depth of global experience in managing the public services organization in the United States and in leading SAP's operations in Japan will be a strong asset as we continue the growth of our public sector business in the United States and around the world," said Kagermann.
Shirk will continue as president of SAP Public Services while working to identify his successor. As part of the announcement, SAP also said it is going to maintain its global public sector development presence at its corporate headquarters in Walldorf, Germany.
SAP said the company is gaining ground in the public sector worldwide, and especially in the U.S. market, citing such new customers in the United States as NASA, the town of Abingdon, Va., and the U.S. Department of Defense. SAP government customers worldwide include the Danish Ministry of Tax, the U.K.'s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, and the Supreme Court of Justice and the Hospital San Jose in Mexico.
For more information on how the U.S. government is implementing technologies to streamline its acquisition and supply chain, see "e-Pluribus Unum" (<http://www.isourceonline.com/article.asp?article_id=2683>) in the June 2002 issue of iSource Business.
