SAP Names David Robinson President of SAP North America

SAP has named David Robinson as the new President of SAP North America, a pivotal leadership change that the company says is intended to accelerate growth, strengthen customer engagement, and advance SAP’s AI-enabled business transformation strategy across the region. 

In this expanded leadership role, Robinson will oversee all North America market units and lead sales operations across the broader Americas geography. His mandate will include driving customer success, scaling digital transformation initiatives, and helping organizations unlock value from SAP’s integrated suite of solutions, especially where artificial intelligence (AI) and unified data are essential to business outcomes. 

Prior to this appointment Robinson was the president and chief revenue officer for SAP Cloud ERP and acting managing director for SAP U.S. Public Services, where he helped shepherd customer cloud transitions and advance SAP’s go-to-market momentum. 

Robinson, a longtime SAP executive with 22 years at the company, has experience across sales, operations, and customer programs. He has held senior roles across the organization, including Senior Vice President for RISE with SAP, Global Vice President and Managing Director, COO for Customer Success, and Regional Vice President for Business Finance in North America. 

As SVP and Managing Director of Customer Success, he supported the transition of more than 60,000 legacy core and line of business application customers, across 25 industries and six continents to cloud environments. The effort required coordination across SAP’s strategy, development, finance, and field organizations. 

SAP Continues Reshaping Its Senior Leadership 

Robinson’s appointment comes close on the heels of another major leadership change at SAP. In December 2025, SAP announced that Dirk Häußermann will lead SAP Germany as CEO, succeeding outgoing leader Sven Mulder, and stepping into one of the company’s key regional markets starting January 1, 2026. 

SAP has been adjusting leadership roles more closely tied to sales execution and customer engagement recently. Those shifts include the departure of former Global Head of Customer Success Scott Russell, the appointment of Jan Gilg and Manos Raptopoulos into regional customer success leadership roles, and the exit of Lloyd Adams as President of SAP America. Together, these moves indicate SAP is reshaping roles tied to customer engagement, revenue, and post-sale outcomes, with Robinson’s long-standing sales background seen as a stabilizing factor for U.S. customers.

What This Means for SAPinsiders 

SAP is enhancing its strategic focus on North America growth. SAP North America represents one of SAP’s most important commercial markets, both in terms of revenue and strategic innovation adoption. Robinson’s deep familiarity with the region from enterprise cloud adoption to public sector digital modernization, positions the organization to respond more nimbly to customer priorities and competitive pressures. His appointment signals SAP’s intention to double down on customer success and localized execution as key differentiators. 

Acceleration of AI-embedded transformation is a priority. Under Robinson’s leadership, SAP is expected to press forward on AI-embedded solution adoption, aligning with SAP’s broader Suite-first, AI-first strategy. This effort spans intelligent ERP, advanced analytics, and automated business processes – all powered by unified data platforms designed to accelerate measurable business outcomes. 

Integrated cloud and customer success programs remain a core focus. Robinson’s track record in driving cloud transformation, particularly across SAP’s Cloud ERP and RISE portfolio, brings a sharp focus on migration strategies, outcome-based engagement, and value realization frameworks that help organizations modernize with limited disruption.