Indian-origin businessman Punit Renjen is set to be the next chairman of the German multinational software company SAP. The Supervisory Board of SAP SE has nominated Renjen to stand for election as a new member and has proposed him as the designated successor to current chairman Hasso Plattner.
Punit Renjen (61) has previously served as global CEO of the multinational professional services firm Deloitte from 2015 until his retirement on December 31, 2022. SAP says Renjen developed and executed a strategy that resulted in Deloitte revenues growing from $35 billion to more than $59 billion in just seven years.
Background
Tracking back to his initial years, Renjen was raised in Rohtak, Haryana. He attended a local college and earned a degree in economics. Upon graduation, Renjen took a job at Usha International, a Delhi-based manufacturer of household appliances.
Later, he received a Rotary Foundation Scholarship in 1984, which gave him a full scholarship to Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he completed his MBA in management. Right after graduation, Renjen joined Touche Ross, which later amalgamated with Deloitte in 1989, that’s when Renjen started working for Deloitte. He and his family live in Oregon, USA.
Renjen is a member of the Leadership Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the International Business Council. In 2022, he was recognized by the Carnegie Corporation of America as a “Great Immigrant. Great American”. In 2021, he was awarded the Oregon History Medal. Previously, he served as Chairman of United Way Worldwide.
With this, Renjen joins the long list of Indian American honchos that head global technology companies. Recently, Neal Mohan succeeded Susan Wojcicki as the CEO of YouTube. With Sundar Pichai heading Alphabet, Satya Nadella heading Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen heading Adobe, and Arvind Krishna heading IBM among others, Indian-origin tech leaders continue to hold some of the most important positions in the tech world.
