SAP Chief Operating Officer Christian Klein to Join Executive Board

SAP SE (SAP.XE) on Thursday appointed Chief Operating Officer Christian Klein to its executive board to lead global business operations as it seeks to further its digital transformation and transition into a cloud company.

Mr. Klein, who is 37, will retain his role as COO once he joins the board on Jan. 1, 2018.

Mr. Klein joined the company as a student in 1999 and has served as COO since April 2016. He focuses on controlling, optimizing internal processes, and developing an automated and integrated IT infrastructure.

As global business operations head, he will work toward simplifying and modernizing SAP's core business processes and aligning them with its cloud and platform strategy.

Mr. Klein said he looked forward to driving SAP's digital transformation, which he said will benefit the company's clients as they also undergo digitalization.

SAP's supervisory board also extended executive board member Michael Kleinemeier's contract to Dec. 31, 2019. His contract was due to expire at the end of October 2018. Mr. Kleinemeier oversees digital business services.

Write to Sonia Amaral Rohter at sonia.amaralrohter@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2017 09:46 ET (13:46 GMT)