John Schwarz is chief executive officer (CEO) of Business Objects, an independent business unit within the SAP Group, and a member of the SAP Executive Board. Schwarz is responsible for all aspects of the Business Objects operations, including go-to-market activities and product development, as well as service and support.

Schwarz joined Business Objects in September of 2005 as its CEO, and during his tenure oversaw seven strategic acquisitions, including Cartesis and Firstlogic. He drove revenue growth to more than U.S. $1.5 billion.

Prior to Business Objects, Schwarz was president and chief operating officer of Symantec Corporation. While at Symantec, he played a key role in tripling business growth to more than U.S. $2.7 billion in revenue and was instrumental in the successful combination of Symantec and VERITAS.

Before joining Symantec, Schwarz spent 25 years at IBM Corporation, working in various development, manufacturing, sales, and marketing roles. His last position was general manager of IBM's Industry Solutions unit, a worldwide organization focused on building business applications and related services for IBM's large industry customers.

Schwarz currently also serves as a director of the Synopsys Corporation.

Schwarz has degrees in business administration from the University of Toronto and in computer science from the University of Manitoba. In 2004, he received an honorary doctorate from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.