SAP Makes Key Leadership Appointments in APAC to Drive Regional Strategy

SAP has recently announced significant leadership appointments within the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. These changes will strengthen the company’s regional structure and accelerate its strategic priorities, specifically focusing on cloud adoption, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the development of its partner ecosystem. These appointments reflect a strategic effort by SAP to enhance its operational effectiveness across the diverse markets of the APAC region.

New Appointments

The company has appointed Liher Urbizu as President and Managing Director for SAP Southeast Asia (SEA). Urbizu is an executive with 25 years of experience within the SAP ecosystem. In his new capacity, he will oversee the strategy, operations, and customer success initiatives across the SEA market unit, which encompasses Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and emerging regions in Indochina.

Urbizu, who previously served as Managing Director for SAP Indochina, plans to assist organisations in driving innovation and achieving sustainable growth within the digital economy, utilising data, AI, and cloud technologies. He aims to leverage AI and SAP’s business software to deliver measurable business outcomes for customers.

Verena Siow is transitioning from her role leading SAP SEA to assuming the new Regional Business Suite Leader position for SAP, Asia Pacific (APAC). With over 13 years at SAP, Siow will now lead strategic cloud growth initiatives and business development activities across Asia Pacific.

Her responsibilities will include optimising the end-to-end experience for SAP’s cloud customers, from initial engagement through contract renewals. Siow intends to apply her experience, including her tenure leading the SEA team, to support customers across the broader APAC region in accelerating their innovation processes and maximising value from their digital transformation programmes as SAP expands its presence.

Further reinforcing the regional leadership structure, Peter Moore has been appointed as Head of Partner Ecosystem for SAP Asia Pacific (APAC), effective May 1, 2025. Moore brings over 20 years of experience in the technology sector, with a deep understanding of the Asian market, including 12 previous years in various leadership roles at SAP. He succeeds Utkarsh Maheshwari in this role.

Moore will lead the expansion and development of SAP’s partner ecosystem across APAC. His mandate includes driving partner recruitment, enabling their capabilities, fostering co-innovation efforts, strengthening strategic alliances, and empowering partners to deliver transformative digital solutions based on SAP technologies.

Announcing these appointments, Simon Davies, Regional President, SAP APAC, emphasised the critical contribution of the partner ecosystem to SAP’s performance in APAC, particularly in light of rapid cloud adoption and increasing demand for specialised solutions.

Davies added: “Businesses around Asia continue to choose SAP to innovate and transform, to create resilient supply chains, drive tangible value, and realise the opportunities Business AI offers.” He noted SAP already offers 210 AI use cases and is targeting over 400 by year-end 2025 to boost user efficiency by 30%.

What This Means for Mastering SAP Insiders

These appointments align with SAP’s growth strategy and Q1 performance. The first quarter saw strong adoption of Business AI in APAC. In Southeast Asia, DKSH Performance Materials selected SAP S/4HANA and Business AI to enhance its B2B eCommerce with personalisation and efficiency. Korea’s LG Energy Solutions chose RISE with SAP and BTP, leveraging integrated AI to boost productivity in manufacturing and finance to meet growing battery demand. Wipro Limited in India adopted SAP Joule for Consultants, embedding generative AI to increase productivity and simplify client transformations globally, alongside going live with SAP SuccessFactors. GIGA Image Technology in Greater China chose RISE with SAP and Business AI.

SAP continues to prioritise Cloud, AI, and Ecosystem in APAC. The structure of the new leadership roles directly mirrors SAP’s core strategic priorities being adopted by APAC customers. Siow’s mandate is to accelerate and streamline the cloud journey across the entire region. For example, companies like Lion (ANZ), East Japan Railway Company (Japan), Hyundai Motor and Kia (Korea), Parle Biscuits and Patanjali Foods (India), and Auto Link (Greater China) all chose RISE with SAP for their cloud journeys. Others adopted solutions from SAP’s comprehensive suite, including S/4HANA Cloud, SAP BTP, and SAP SuccessFactors, demonstrating broad adoption of SAP’s cloud portfolio to enhance resilience and performance.

SAP is enabling scalable customer success by optimising experience and ecosystem. These leadership shifts aim to facilitate greater customer success across APAC, building on the positive implementations seen in Q1 2025. Customers, like those aiming for operational efficiency or digital transformation through S/4HANA Cloud, represent the successful outcomes SAP wants to enable more broadly. Moore’s work with the partner ecosystem is essential for scaling this success, ensuring that the specialised skills and localised support needed for deploying sophisticated solutions are readily available through partners. These appointments are designed to strengthen the infrastructure and support systems, enabling APAC users to replicate the company’s Q1 success stories and beyond, driving their business value from SAP investments.