Software AG’s Supervisory Board has appointed Eric Duffaut (52) as member of the executive board (Vorstand), effective as of October 1st, 2014.

He will be responsible, as chief customer officer, for Software AG’s global sales, consulting services and marketing. Chairman of the supervisory board, Andreas Bereczky, says: “With Eric Duffaut we were able to win a high-profile executive with many years of distinctive international management and sales experience in the software industry.”

Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO of Software AG, says: “With the appointment of Eric Duffaut we are bundling all our go-to-market activities. This will accelerate our transformation to a totally customer-centric organisation.

“Through this new organisational structure we will better utilize the leading position of our product portfolio. We will significantly strengthen our direct sales execution capabilities as well as the development of our partner eco-system.”

Duffaut previously held global sales leadership positions at Oracle and SAP, most recently as corporate officer and president of SAP’s global partner eco-system.

His knowledge of the global software industry, proven leadership skills and total customer-centric management approach makes him ideal for this new position.