William R. McDermott (born August 18, 1961)[1] is an American businessman and CEO of ServiceNow. Before ServiceNow, he was the CEO of the technology company SAP SE.[2][3][4][5] During his tenure as co-CEO and CEO, SAP's market value increased from $39 billion to $156 billion.[2][6] McDermott, along with Joanne Gordon, wrote a memoir, Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office,[7] and was awarded a gold medal for business memoir of the year by the Axiom Business Book Awards.[8] McDermott began his role as CEO of ServiceNow in November 2019.[9]

Bill McDermott
McDermott in 2008
Born
William R. McDermott

(1961-08-18) August 18, 1961 (age 63)
New York City, U.S.
EducationKellogg School of Management
Wharton School of Business
Dowling College
OccupationBusinessman
Known forServiceNow, SAP SE
SpouseJulie McDermott
Children2
Bill McDermott and Maria Bartiromo (FOX Business)

Early years

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Bill McDermott was born in Amityville on Long Island, where he also grew up.[7] He is one of four children to Kathleen and Bill McDermott[10] and a grandson to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame player Bobby McDermott.[11] At age 16, he bought the Amityville Country Delicatessen in Long Island for $7,000.[11]

Education

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McDermott studied Business Management at Dowling College. His deli business helped him pay for his undergraduate education.[11] After completing his undergraduate studies, McDermott attended Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management where he earned his MBA,[12][13] and then completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of Business.

Career

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Xerox, Gartner and Siebel Systems

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McDermott worked for 17 years at Xerox [4] and then became the president of Gartner in 2000.[3][4] From 2001 to 2002, he was executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations at Siebel Systems.[3][14]

In 2002, McDermott was appointed by SAP as the CEO of SAP America. He was designated to the SAP Executive Board in 2008, and in February 2010, he became the co-CEO of SAP AG.[3][4] After four years, on May 21, 2014, McDermott became the first American to become the CEO of the company, now known as SAP SE. SAP's market capitalization increased from $39 billion to $144 billion between 2010 and 2018.[2][15] In 2016 McDermott became the best-paid executive leading the companies that form the German stock index DAX by earning a direct remuneration of €11.6 million.[16] On October 10, 2019, McDermott decided to leave SAP SE.[17] SAP did many acquisitions under his tenure, starting with Sybase in 2010. [18]

ServiceNow

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At the end of October 2019 after McDermott stepped down from SAP, ServiceNow announced his appointment as CEO. He succeeded John Donahoe at the end of 2019 as Donahoe finished his tenure at the company.[19] He cited "the company’s strength in cloud computing and enterprise software, and the challenge of building an already vibrant company further" as reasons for him to join ServiceNow as CEO.[20]

In 2021, McDermott was the 3rd highest paid CEO of all S&P 500 CEOs, receiving over $162 million in equity and $3.5 million in cash and other forms of compensation from ServiceNow.[21]

Awards and honors

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In 2016, McDermott was named "Manager of the Year" by the German Business Daily Handelsblatt.[22] He has received numerous awards for his civic leadership, which includes:

  1. GENYOUth's Vanguard Award.[23]
  2. City Year's Idealist of the Year.[24]
  3. The We Are Family Foundation's Visionary Award,[25]
  4. Children's Aid Society's Promise Award.[26]

McDermott recently was recognized as a top CEO by Glassdoor in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.[27]

Affiliations

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McDermott is a member of the Business Roundtable.[28]

Personal life

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McDermott and his wife Julie have two sons.[29] In July 2015, McDermott slipped and fell down the stairs while carrying a glass of water. The glass shattered into pieces, with one going through his left eye. He underwent "11 or 12 surgeries by the time it was all done", but ultimately the accident cost him his left eye.[30] McDermott returned to SAP headquarters in October of that same year.[31]

References

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  1. ^ Koenen, Jens; Schürmann, Hans (2010-02-08). "Mit dem Zweiten läuft es besser". Handelsblatt. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Swartz, Jon (2018-06-08). "SAP CEO McDermott's Intent on Beating Salesforce in CRM". Barrons.com. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  3. ^ a b c d "SAP CEO McDermott on Being the American Head of a German Multinational". HBR.org. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
  4. ^ a b c d "SAP CEO Bill McDermott: The Underdog with a Vision". CNBC.com. 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  5. ^ SAP's McDermott Seeks faster decisions as sole CEO Archived July 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Aaron Ricadela, Bloomberg Businessweek May 21, 2014; accessed March 31, 2015.
  6. ^ Comeau, Zachary (18 October 2019). "SAP CEO Bill McDermott To Step Down". TD. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  7. ^ a b Jane M. Von Bergen (December 15, 2014). "SAP CEO is telling a winner's story". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  8. ^ Winners Dream profile, IndependentPublisher.com; accessed July 2, 2015.
  9. ^ "Bill McDermott takes reins as ServiceNow CEO sooner than expected with new CFO". TechCrunch. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  10. ^ Published in Fort Wayne Newspapers (October 10, 2010). "Kathleen A. McDermott Obituary". Legacy.com. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Julie Bort (November 10, 2014). "This Man Beat Poverty, Cancer, And Fleas To Lead A $21 Billion Company". Business Insider. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  12. ^ McDermott profile, alumni.kellogg.northwestern.edu; accessed March 31, 2015.
  13. ^ Kellogg School of Management alumni profile Archived 2010-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, kellogg.northwestern.edu; accessed March 31, 2015.
  14. ^ Callaghan, Dennis (30 September 2002). "Former Siebel Exec Resurfaces at SAP". eweek.com. QuinStreet. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  15. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (2018-02-12). "SAP Will Consider Small Acquisitions, Not Mega-Deals". CNBC.com. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  16. ^ "So viel verdienen die Dax-Chefs" [This is how much the Dax bosses earn]. Der Spiegel (in German). 17 March 2017.
  17. ^ "SAP Sets Course for the Future With Next Generation Leadership Team". PR Newswire. 10 October 2019.
  18. ^ "SAP is Said to Explore Sale of Mobile Network Software Unit". Bloomberg.com. 14 April 2020.
  19. ^ "ServiceNow Announces Bill McDermott to Become CEO, Succeeding John Donahoe, Who Is Stepping Down to Become CEO of Nike". www.businesswire.com. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  20. ^ "ServiceNow Shakeup: No One Saw This Coming". Channelnomics. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  21. ^ Francis, Theo (2022-05-15). "Pay Packages for CEOs Rise to Record Level". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  22. ^ Afhüppe, Sven (2016-12-17). "SAP CEO McDermott is National Manager of the Year: A Fighter with Heart". Handlesblatt.com. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
  23. ^ "GENYOUth Gala Recap". GENYOUthnow.org.
  24. ^ "City Year Names Idealist of the Year". BusinesWire.com. 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  25. ^ "We Are Family Foundation 2015 Celebration Gala Honors McDermott". LawlorMedia.com. 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2015-04-28.
  26. ^ "McDermott Receives Children's Aid Society Promise Award". IrishAmerica.com.
  27. ^ "Glassdoor Names Top 100 CEOs in U.S., UK, Germany, more". Glassdoor.com.
  28. ^ Business Roundtable website; accessed July 2, 2015.
  29. ^ McDermott profile, articles.philly.com, December 16, 2014; accessed March 31, 2015.
  30. ^ Handley, Lucy (2017-06-08). "SAP CEO Bill McDermott on losing an eye: 'My accident changed my life for the better'". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  31. ^ Mike Wheatley (September 18, 2015). "SAP boss Bill McDermott lost an eye, almost died in freak accident". SiliconANGLE. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
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