SAP America chief executive officer Paul Wahl resigned unexpectedly yesterday and will join an internet security start- up, the company said on Thursday. He will be replaced by Kevin McKay, who was previously both chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the company. John Milana takes over as CFO, and company president Jeremy Coote takes on an expanded role. Wahl was promoted to CEO in February 1996. He replaced previous CEO Klaus Besier, who also left to run an internet start-up, Business@Web Inc. In a previous life, Wahl was director of the Open Software Foundation’s European operations before he joined SAP in 1991. Meanwhile, SAP rival Peoplesoft Inc attempted to halt recent erosion of its share price yesterday by holding a conference with analysts. Business was exceptionally strong, the company said, partly fueled by an increase in services business and stronger international business. Peoplesoft said it planned to make acquisitions over the next nine months. SAP has around 25% of the enterprise resource planning market, while Peoplesoft is the second largest in the sector, with 8.5%.
