Concur has named Mike Eberhard president to replace Elena
Donio, who will become CEO of Axiom. Eberhard,
who was president of global distribution, joined Concur in 2003 and has held
various roles, including executive vice president and general manager of Asia/Pacific
and executive vice president of worldwide sales and business development. He
will "lead the company through its next chapter of growth and SAP integration,"
according to Concur.
Donio joined Concur in 1998 through its acquisition of 7Software
and replaced Rajeev Singh as president
in December 2014, following SAP's acquisition
of Concur.
Jason Busch, founder and head of strategy at research and
advisory firm Azul Partners, said Eberhard and Donio's skill sets differ. Donio
comes from an analytical and consulting background. Eberhard has experience
with enterprise software, including e-procurement and trade financing, which Busch
said can help Eberhard appreciate how different pieces may fit together outside
T&E.
"Aside from the ruthless sales execution
Concur has been all about recently, they've really focused on building up this
platform as a service model and an ecosystem, and that requires a different type
of leader than if you're going to focus 110 percent on commercial execution,"
Busch said. "If you look at Mike's background, it very much fits the
executive SAP sales mold, which is one of obviously managing a very large-scale
organization with your own resources and also managing distribution through
travel partners and resellers. Make no mistake about it: He's clearly in the [SAP
CEO Bill] McDermott school. This is about sales and execution, and it's less
about strategy."