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Hasso Plattner

Hasso Plattner is a cofounder of software giant SAP AG. Today he is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP AG.

Biography

Hasso Plattner (born January 21, 1944 in Berlin, Germany) is a German entrepreneur. He is married, has two children and lives in Schriesheim-Altenbach near Heidelberg, Germany.

Together with Dietmar Hopp, Claus Wellenreuther, Hans Werner Hector and Klaus Tschira, he is one the founders of the software giant SAP AG. He was also chairman of the board until 2003 and is currently the chairman of the supervisory board.

Commitment to education

Since his retirement from SAP, Plattner has been particularly active as a benefactor in the field of technological research. Media reports have named him one of Germany's most important private sponsors of scientific research. Plattner received his honorary doctorate in 2002 and his honorary professorship in 2004 from the University of Potsdam. Plattner had also received an honorary doctorate (1990) and an honorary professorship in Information Systems (1994) from the Saarland University, Saarbrücken. The same university named him an honorary senator in 1998.

Also in 1998, Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute for software systems engineering based at the University of Potsdam, and in Palo Alto, California, its only source of funding being the non-profit Hasso Plattner Foundation for Software Systems Engineering. Plattner has pledged 50 million euros of his personal fortune over a period of 20 years. Since its foundation, Plattner's commitment to the HPI has quadrupled to over 200 million euros. He not only fully finances the HPI, but is also actively involved as a director and lecturer in Enterprise Platforms and Integration Concepts

In October 2005, with a donation of 35 million USD, Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University Students of varying disciplines have been charged with the development of user-friendly innovations. Another of Plattner's pledges to promote science was of 10 million euros to redevelop the library at the University of Mannheim, Germany, given in 2003.

The venture capital fund HassoPlattnerVentures, set up with a starting balance of more than 25 million euros, was founded on July 1, 2005 in the German city of Potsdam with the goal of supporting young entrepreneurs in transforming their ideas into marketable products. SAP co-founder Prof. Dr. h.c. Hasso Plattner provides the lion’s share of this investment capital, along with InvestitionsBank of Brandenburg and CMEA Ventures.

Stanford University has recently launched the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (the "d.school").

Recognition

For his commitment to economics and science, Plattner has received a number of honours. Germany's manager magazin awarded its coveted Leadership Award for Global Integration to the "technology guru" and inaugurated him into their Hall of Fame, which honours personalities for their promotion of economic and social development in Germany. In 2001, Time Magazine Europe ranked Mr. Plattner number one on its list of the most important and influential IT personalities.

On 2004-01-21, at a ceremony at the Hasso Plattner Institute celebrating the 60th birthday of its founder, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder made the following comments on Plattner’s achievements: "We need more Hasso Plattners and more SAPs in order to get Germany moving again economically." According to the Chancellor, Plattner was able to create an international corporation that proved "that German companies can be at the top of the technological hierarchy worldwide". The Chancellor argued that Germany could learn a lot from the HPI.

In an interview in August 2004, the Munich-based management consultant Roland Berger named Hasso Plattner as one of the five Germans who have made the greatest impression on him. In the Welt am Sonntag article Berger pointed out how Plattner founded, built up and adapted SAP to a changing market was a "master achievement".

Plattner is said to be the 11th richest man in Germany with an estimated fortune of 5 billion USD, according to Forbes.

Hobbies

Plattner has occasionally been brought into the public eye due to disputes with Oracle's founder Larry Ellison. Both share an unusual passion: racing transoceanic yachts around the world. The two have frequently come head-to-head, and such meetings have not been without their animosity.

Alongside sailing the high seas, he is a keen golfer. He owns the Fancourt Golf Estate, near George, in South Africa.

Philanthropy

Plattner has had strong connections with South Africa over the years and spends some of his time living there, while participating in charitable work. In the fight against AIDS, he supports the universities of KwaZulu Natal and Cape Town. His donation of six million euros for the Isombululo programme, for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS was announced at the Presidents Cup, one of the world's leading international golf tournaments in 2003

, and it is suggested that this amount will have helped 360 000 people.

In the spring of 2005, Plattner personally covered the costs of the 46664 benefit concert, which took place at on his golf course in George which is near Cape Town and which was broadcast globally on television. Proceeds went towards the former South African president Nelson Mandela's fund to fight AIDS/HIV.