2023 Judges

Alex Swain

Alex Swain is VP of AI and Platform Experiences in the SAP Design organization and is leading a practice focused on expanding our knowledge and application of meaningful AI design and solutions along with formulating cross portfolio initiatives that can serve as global experiences across products for all teams to leverage.

Prior to this role, Alex has amassed over 20 years in the design field and has become a multi-award-winning user experience leader with four design patents. He specializes in the Data and AI domain where he’s led the strategy and vision of an enterprise grade premiere Data and AI collaboration platform, which integrates multiple product experiences, common services, personas and use cases into a single unified environment.

He's passionate about identifying and driving innovation into experiences, simplifying the complex, and pushing the boundaries of user-centered design.

Amogh Umbarkar

Amogh Umbarkar is VP, SAP Product Engineering. Amogh has worked in various leadership roles during his 19+ years tenure at SAP. He is passionate about adopting and delivering innovation to help customers achieve better business outcomes.

Amogh specializes in bringing the right combination of industry expertise and technological innovation to create collaborative roadmaps for adopting Digital Transformation to create new business models. Amogh’s engagements put new ways of leveraging Industry 4.0, sustainability, Intelligent technologies like Big Data, Machine Learning, IoT etc. at the core of driving measurable business outcomes.

Arin Bhowmick

With more than 20 years as a design practitioner and leader, and a Masters degree in HCI, Arin has vast experience in enterprise UX and is passionate about creating user outcome driven digital products at scale. Having led large scale product development and re-imagination efforts, Arin has nurtured and empowered teams to reach their full potential, as well as championed design thinking and doing frameworks, human centered culture adoption, inclusive, ethical design practices and designing for business. Arin loves to be in the forefront of emerging experiences and technologies, and has led his teams to win many international design awards, and also authored several design patents and publications. He has worked for companies like IBM, Oracle, and is most recently the Chief Design Officer at SAP.

Chad Crook

Chad Crook is a leader in SAP’s Cloud Success Service area and serves in the capacity of Chief Innovation Officer.

Chad has a combined 15 years of experience, serving in both commercial, and operational executive leadership roles. He most recently was Senior Vice President of Success Centers, and prior to that was Head of Customer Engagement for Procurement leading the SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass teams and was COO of Customer Value Organization.  

In his current capacity, Chad is focused on innovating the Advanced Layer of our customer experience having responsibility for our Preferred Success and Training & Adoption brand offerings.  These innovations are focused on maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of how we run, which translates into a more consistent and dynamic experience for our customers. 

Chad has immense passion for driving key business outcomes and delivering unparalleled value for our customers. In his personal time, this native Georgian, now residing in Texas enjoys family, health, wellness, and travel.

Dan Lahl

Daniel Lahl, Global Vice President of Product Marketing at SAP, has extensive executive experience in cloud, data management, data warehousing and analytics. While at SAP, Dan has led Product Marketing for emerging technology initiatives, including Cloud Platforms, Data Integration, In-Memory Database and Mobility. 

In 2019 and 2020, Dan was named one of the world’s most influential Product Marketing professionals by the Product Marketing Alliance. Dan is currently focused on growing SAP’s Cloud Business Technology Platform business; expanding the reach of SAP’s Cloud Database, EIM, Integration, Extension, and Intelligent Technologies portfolios.  Dan has degrees from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago.  

Dan Yu

Daniel is responsible for solution management and product marketing for SAP Data and Analytics teams. He drives the commercial strategy and go-to-market strategies for all SAP database and analytics products such as SAP HANA Cloud, Data Warehouse Cloud, Analytics Cloud, etc. Before this role, he was responsible for Microsoft Azure’s analytics and data governance business and as well as the head of products for analytics startups such as Usermind (now part of Qualtrics), Apptio, and iSpot.tv.He was also a co-founder of an artificial intelligence startup specializing in process mining and SCM optimization using SAP data.

David Trites

David Trites has over 25 years of enterprise software experience as a global brand marketer, ERP strategy consultant, and SAP implementation consultant. Currently David writes and produces branded content about SAP’s most strategic and successful customers for use in global marketing campaigns, solution and industry marketing, and social media. Prior to joining SAP, David worked for Gartner and Deloitte.

David Williams

David Williams is Vice President of Product Marketing for SAP’s data and analytics solutions, including SAP HANA Cloud, Data Warehouse Cloud, and Analytics Cloud, which help maximize the value of your data for the most impactful decisions.

Eric van Rossum

Eric van Rossum is Chief Marketing and Solutions Officer (CMSO) for cloud ERP at SAP. He's responsible for the portfolio growth plan including solution management, solution marketing, commercial terms, and go-to-market model. He partners closely with his engineering and sales counterparts to jointly achieve the growth aspirations for SAP’s cloud ERP portfolio.

Eric has been with SAP for 20 years and most recently led Service Industries, where he built a strong foundation for SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Prior to this he held several cross-functional roles at SAP in Consulting, Sales, Corporate Strategy, and Support.

Eric earned his master’s degree in international business from Maastricht University and an advanced management certificate from the Graduate School of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences at St. Gallen.

Fabian Padilla-Crisol

Fabian is in charge of SAP’s Strategic Partnerships Programs. In this role he is overseeing the go-to-market, performance and support of programs for strategic partnerships.

Before, Fabian was in charge of SAP’s overall market performance in Hong Kong and Macau, and supported enterprise customers to navigate complex digital landscapes and explore new growth opportunities through innovation. He champions SAP’s customer-first approach and enables customers to become Intelligent Enterprises, and accelerate digital transformation through SAP’s best-in-class applications.

He brings two decades of strategic, executive, and product development experience at SAP to his new role. Fabian has held various roles in solution development, project implementation, sales management, and strategic counselling. He has led multi-cultural teams across Asia Pacific and Japan, EMEA and the Americas and spearheaded successful transformation programs, and developed new business ecosystems.

Before taking the helm in Hong Kong, Fabian’s prior positions included providing counsel and support to SAP Executive Board members Jennifer Morgan, now SAP co-CEO, and Adaire Fox-Martin, in running strategic projects within the Global Customer Operations organization. He earlier served as Global Vice President of Global Customer Operations and was Head of Strategic Finance Projects Delivery at SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. 

Jonas Dennler

Jonas started his career in 2009 as the global environment manager of SAP. In this role, he was responsible for the corporate CO2 accounting, the roll out of a global environmental management system, and various CO2 reduction initiatives like the Green Cloud, e-mobility or introducing an internal price for carbon. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Swiss Climate Foundation and a member of the investment committee of the Livelihoods Fund. After different positions in the regional Customer Advisory team, Jonas Dennler now leads the global Go to Market for SAP’s sustainability solutions and services. Jonas also holds a degree in Environmental Physics from ETH Zurich, as well as an Executive MBA in Business Engineering from HSG St. Gallen.

Lara Albert

Lara Albert is global vice president of solution marketing at SAP SuccessFactors. In her role, Albert leads the go-to-market strategy and execution globally for the SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite, which includes talent management, core HR and payroll; workforce planning and analytics; employee experience management; sales performance management; cloud platform tools and technology; and initiatives such as diversity and inclusion and well-being at work. Prior to her career at SAP, she was Head of Marketing for a Seattle-based marketing tech startup, and held leadership positions in brand and product marketing at VeriSign, AOL and Kraft Foods. 

Albert has a master’s in business administration from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Albert enjoys life on the water in Savannah Georgia, is a busy mom of three children, and has a passion for exploring new places, SEC college football, and mentoring young professionals. 

Lisa Harding

Lisa Harding is Vice President of Product Marketing for SAP’s procurement and external workforce solutions portfolio. She is passionate about technology, storytelling, and helping our customers with their digital transformation journeys. Prior to joining SAP almost eight years ago, Lisa worked in a variety of product marketing and management roles for start-up and fast-growth companies. Lisa earned her master of science in integrated marketing from Northwestern University and bachelor of arts in journalism from the University of Wisconsin. 

Michelle Craig

Michelle Craig is VP of Thought Leadership & Integrated Marketing at SAP Concur and a strategic marketing leader and business partner—guiding high-profile strategies and campaigns and driving global business results. 

Michelle works across the global marketing team to unify messaging across channels, elevating SAP Concur thought leadership presence and accelerating business transformation.

Michelle’s earlier roles included senior corporate communications and agency leadership positions, working with both start-ups and established global companies in the tech sector, and leading creative programs and high-performing teams with results beyond expectations. 

Mike Keilen

Mike Keilen has over 30 years’ experience in the enterprise software industry, specializing in Integration, Enterprise Information Management, Process Automation and Application Development Solutions.  Over his career he has built and led teams responsible for solution/product management, product marketing, product development and channel sales. Currently Mike serves as a Global VP leading SAP’s BTP Integration and Data Management (EIM) Product Marketing and Solutions group.  Mike holds a degree in Computer Science and an MBA.    

Oliver Betz

Oliver Betz is the Head of the Business Transformation Office and Automation & Scale for the SAP Adoption Services Center at SAP Cloud Success Services. In this role he is responsible for driving transformation initiatives to execute the SAP Cloud Success Services, transforming the delivery model to the cloud focusing on product adoption and consumption. As the head of Automation & Scale he is responsible to standardize, automate and scale the way SAP delivers services for its clients to accelerate time to value for SAP’s customers. This is achieved by reducing repetitive and manual activities integrating expert knowledge and best practices into the Services portfolio and scaling the delivery factories. In addition he manages the Enterprise Support Value Maps and the Enterprise Support Academy delivering value at scale to 1000’s of SAP customers.

Oliver began his professional career as a software developer and consultant in 1996 and joined SAP in 2000 as a technical support consultant. Later, he was leading the SAP Innovative Business Solutions Organization collaborating with clients globally – from discovery to delivery – to develop tailored, high-value solutions that are fully maintained and operated by SAP. Prior to assuming his current position in April 2021, he was the Global Head Industry and Product Management SAP S/4HANA where he and his team defined SAP’s next generation ERP solution for the Cloud.

Oliver holds a Master’s Degree in Physics from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. 

Richard Howells

Richard Howells has been working in the supply chain management and manufacturing space for over 30 years. He is responsible for driving the thought leadership and awareness of SAP’s ERP, Finance and Supply Chain solutions and is an active writer and thought leader on the topics of supply chain, industry 4.0, digitization and sustainability.

Seema Kesselring

Seema Vishnoi Kesselring is Global VP of Product Strategy in Customer Experience organization. Seema is passionate about innovation & adoption of SAP Customer Experience product portfolio to help customers succeed in the digitally transformative projects leveraging intelligent technologies. She has played key roles in product and engineering organization, sales go to market, sales operations, Innovative business solutions and successfully lead various strategic initiatives with customers and within SAP. 

Seema is also an adjunct professor and teaches in the Villanova School of Business at Villanova University. She earned her MBA from Villanova University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Sciences. She can be reached at seema.kesselring@sap.com.

Sid Misra

Sid Misra is Vice President of Product Marketing and Solution Management for Application Development, SAP Business Technology Platform. He has over 18+ years of experience working in leading enterprise B2B companies where he has held multiple leadership roles in Product Marketing, Product Management, Developer Marketing and Partner Ecosystem Development . At SAP, he is responsible for product marketing, solution management and commercial strategy for SAP Build low-code offering and SAP’s pro-code solutions.

Simone Engelhardt

Simone Engelhardt is Senior Vice President and Head of the Customer Engagement Support in SAP’s Cloud Success Services area. Her organization actively contributes to Customer Lifetime Value by supporting and engaging with customer-facing colleagues and customers directly, with the goal to improve customer health, satisfaction, and to foster SAP customers’ success in the cloud. In her current role Simone is also responsible for the Essential Success Experience. 

During her 34 years tenure at SAP, Simone has worked in various leadership roles. She joined SAP in 1988 as a software developer and became a member of the core development team for SAP’s System R/3 for enterprise logistics. She then served as an Executive Board Assistant to Dietmar Hopp, Chairman of the SAP Executive Board, and later to Gerhard Oswald, member of the SAP Executive Board. In 2002, she became Vice President Business Development of SAP Hosting AG responsible for Process Management, Audit & Risk Management as well as People Development. Later on she joined Global IT Infrastructure Services (IT-IS) as Global Vice President Operations and became a major contributor to the Run Simpler Initiative, the creation of “SAP runs SAP” showcases, and the implementation of a Continuous Improvement System within IT-IS. From 2013 to 2015, she was Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Scale Quality & Support board area, reporting directly to Executive Board member Gerhard Oswald. After that, she became Senior Vice President and Head of Events & Communication for the Board area Digital Business Services (DBS).

Sven Denecken

Sven Denecken is Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing and Solutions Officer for Industries at SAP. In this role Sven is charged with strengthening our go-to-market approach, driving product marketing and solution management across SAP’s Industry solutions.

Sven has many years of experience working with customers and partners to create success and value within the SAP network. He has held a variety of roles across functional areas including ERP product management, driving acquisition post-merger integrations, and in Product Engineering as head of Product Success and COO for the flagship solution SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

As a senior executive, Sven works closely with customers, partners, influencers and SAP experts to shape and deliver effective outcomes for Industry customers to support their digital transformation.

Timo Elliott

Timo Elliott is a Global Innovation Evangelist for SAP. He works closely with leading-edge organizations around the world on their digital transformation initiatives. Over the last 30 years with the company, he has given presentations to business and IT leaders in over 60 different countries, talking about SAP's strategy and future trends, illustrated with real-world examples of customer innovation. He has worked in the UK, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and California, and currently lives in Paris, France. He has a degree in Econometrics and holds a patent in the area of mobile analytics.