Cisco's Cathy Smith is appointed SAP Africa's new Managing Director

SAP has appointed Cisco's Cathy Smith to the role of Managing Director for its Africa division.

The multinational software company has poached Smith to replace Claas Kuehnemann, who has held the role of acting managing director for SAP Africa over the past eight months.

"Africa is on the cusp of exponential growth and development enabled by digital technologies," said Steve Tzikakis, regional president for EMEA South at SAP. "As one of the foremost experts in driving digital transformation on the continent, Cathy is imminently suited to leading our Africa operations.

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"We have great confidence in her ability to realize our innovation vision across our customer base."

At Cisco, Smith was managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa, leading the development and execution of the company’s go-to-market sales and digital transformation strategies for the region. Prior to that, she spent 23 years at IBM in a variety of leadership roles.

As a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative, Cathy is also committed to developing the next generation of value-based African leaders, capable of guiding and leading their countries as they balance the demands of globalization with local visions of a sustainable society.