Shai Agassi

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Shai Agassi presenting at the EMEA Enterprise Services Partner Summit 2006

Shai Agassi (Hebrew: שי אגסי‎, born 1968) is Founder and CEO of Better Place (formerly known as Project Better Place). Previously, Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group (PTG) at SAP AG. He resigned from this position on March 28 effective April 1, 2007, to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change. In October 2007 he founded a company named Project Better Place, focusing on a green transportation infrastructure based on electric cars as an alternative to the current fossil fuel technology. In 2003, at the age of 36, Agassi was named one of the top 20 'Global Influentials for 2003' on a CNN-Time Magazine joint list.

At age 15, Agassi began his studies at the Haifa Technion where he graduated with honors and received a Bachelor of Computer Science degree (B.SC). [1]

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[edit] SAP

He was next in line for the position of CEO of SAP after Henning Kagermann vacated that space in 2007. However, Mr. Kagermann's contract as CEO was extended until 2009 by the supervisory board. This led Shai to resign, though he was looking to steer SAP from 2007.[2] [3] Rumour has it that once he resigned, the job was offered immediately jointly with Leo Apotheker, and he declined it. [4]

At SAP he was responsible for SAP's overall technology strategy and execution. In this leadership position, he oversaw the development of the integration and application platform SAP NetWeaver, SAP xApps packaged composite applications, SAP SRM, and SAP Business One. Before his appointment to the SAP Executive Board, Agassi was CEO of SAP Portals and later of the combined company SAP Markets and SAP Portals, which previously operated as a fully owned subsidiary of SAP AG. He was appointed to the SAP Executive Board in 2002. Together with the head of the Application Platform & Architecture (AP&A) group, Peter Zencke, Agassi co-led the Suite Architecture Team, which aligns the software architecture across all SAP solutions.

[edit] Software entrepreneur

A software entrepreneur, Agassi founded TopTier Software (originally called Quicksoft Development) in Israel in 1992 and later moved the company's headquarters to California. Agassi served the company in various capacities including chairman, chief technology officer, and then CEO. He was directly involved in all critical phases of the company's development, including its strategic plan, technical direction and financing, management of two acquisitions, and negotiation of OEM agreements with companies such as SAP, Baan, and Microsoft. TopTier was a leading enterprise portal vendor when SAP acquired the company in April 2001.

In addition to TopTier Software, Agassi co-founded several other companies with his father, Reuven Agassi, including Quicksoft Ltd., a leading multimedia software localization and distribution company in the Israeli market; TopManage, a developer of small business software that was also acquired by SAP in April 2002 (which became SAP Business One, the small business offering by SAP); and Quicksoft Media, a multimedia production company that ceased operations in 1995.

[edit] Better Place

Main article: Better Place

In January 2008, the Israeli government announced its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars, embracing a joint venture between Better Place, Renault and its partner, Nissan Motor Company. Renault and Better Place are working on development of exchangeable batteries.[5][6]

Agassi has raised 200 million dollars for this project, one of the largest and fastest seed rounds in history. Investors include VantagePoint Venture Partners, Israel Corp, Israel Cleantech Ventures, Morgan Stanley, and private investors led by Michael Granoff of Maniv Energy Capital.[7]

Following the announcement in Israel, Better Place had launched its network in Denmark, Australia and in two US locations - Hawaii and Northern California. The company has said it is in talks with more than 25 countries around the world.

In April 2008, Deutsche Bank analysts reportedly concluded that the company's approach could be a "paradigm shift" that causes "massive disruption" to the auto industry, and which has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine altogether."[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Israeli business giant Shai Agassi named one of top 'global influentials' for 2003". 2003-11-30. http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles^l565&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology&. Retrieved on 2009-1-31. 
  2. ^ Agassi, Shai. (2007-03-28) "New Challenges & Farewell", SAP Community Network
  3. ^ (2007-03-28) Press release:"SAP Realigns Executive Board Responsibilities", PR Newswire
  4. ^ (2008-02-28) "From geeks to greens", Economist.com
  5. ^ "Israel Is Set to Promote the Use of Electric Cars". New York Times. 2008-01-21. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/world/middleeast/21israel.html?ref=world. Retrieved on 2008-02-07. 
  6. ^ "Renault-Nissan and Project Better Place prepare for first mass produced electric vehicles". 2008-01-21. http://www.projectbetterplace.com/press-room/press-releases/renault-nissan-and-project-better-place-prepare-first-mass-produced-electr. Retrieved on 2008-02-07. 
  7. ^ "Michael Granoff, leading cleantech investor, interviewed by Ynet". Cleantech Investing in Israel. 2008-04-15. http://cleantech-israel.blogspot.com/2008/04/michael-granoff-leading-cleantech.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. 
  8. ^ "Deutsche Bank: Project Better Place has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine"". Cleantech Investing in Israel. 2008-04-15. http://cleantech-israel.blogspot.com/2008/04/deutsche-bank-project-better-place-has.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-29. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shai_Agassi"
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