Deborah (Debbie) Schmidt

Deborah (Debbie) Schmidt serves as the chief operating officer and head of transformation office for SAP’s Global Strategic Industries (Retail, Financial Services and Public Sector). The Strategic Industry unit was created in 2013 to significantly expanded SAP’s footprint in the relevant industry worldwide.

In her role as chief operating officer, Debbie is responsible for designing, developing and delivering a customer-centric, global operational infrastructure to drive sustainable industry revenue growth and margin expansion. In her role leading the transformation office, Debbie defines and executes projects that will ensure the successful execution of the unit’s 2013 plan, while defining and solidifying a strong plan, pipeline and business model into 2014 and beyond. All of this to transition the Strategic Industries from a regional/horizontal model to a vertical industry-facing organization. She is a member of SAP´s Global Leadership Team for Strategic Industries, reporting to Head of Global Strategic Industries Simon Paris.

Before that Debbie served as the chief operating officer and head of transformation office for Financial Services. This integrated unit was created nearly two years ago and targets the banking, capital markets and insurance industries. During this time, the unit has accelerated the adoption of SAP solutions within this industry, effectively positioning Financial Services as SAP’s most successful performing industry segment. An integrated operational model, the FSI focuses all industry personnel – from sales to services, operations to marketing – who support the financial services industry and aligns them to the direction of a single leader.

Debbie brings extensive IT and financial services experience, including significant expertise in employee management, process and performance improvement and go-to-market strategy. She rejoined SAP in 2011.

Prior to her return, Debbie most recently served as senior vice president, customer relationship management at Accretive Health based in Chicago. Before that role, she held various sales leadership roles with FICO (formerly Fair Isaac Corporation, focusing primarily on credit card and retail banking). During her tenure at FICO, Debbie worked with key accounts such as Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, American Express and GE. Previous to these and other positions within the software industry, Debbie worked at SAP America for 10 years in various roles, most notably leading the region’s HCM focus. Under her leadership, SAP recaptured the number one position in HCM from Peoplesoft. During this time, Debbie was named by HR.com as one of the most influential woman in HCM and launched the Vision Council for HCM.

Debbie earned her Master of Business Administration from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Science from Marquette University. She has also completed the Women’s Senior Leadership Program sponsored by the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Debbie serves as an active executive sponsor for the SAP Business Women’s Network, working closely with the chapters established within Financial Services and in the Chicagoland area. She is also a member of the SAP Global Customer Operations Diversity Committee, a cross-functional team charged with accelerating the company’s diversity objectives across the global field organization. In addition to serving as a member of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago, Debbie volunteers her time as mentor for other SAP employees and as part of Menttium, a corporate mentoring organization founded in 1991 that supports leadership development and diversity in the global business community.