Léo Apotheker (born 18 September 1953) is a German business executive. He served briefly as the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from November 2010 until his dismissal in September 2011. He also served as co-chief executive officer of SAP from April 2008 until he resigned in February 2010 following a decision by that company not to renew his contract. During his tenure as chief executive at HP, the company lost more than $30 billion in market capitalization after a series of strategic missteps by the company, leading to his resignation. At SAP, which he joined in 1988 and where he spent more than 20 years, he played an instrumental role in developing and implementing a number of significant changes. Apotheker currently sits on the board of KMD, Schneider Electric SA, Steria, and the non-profit organization PlaNet Finance. He previously served on the board of directors of GT Nexus. Apotheker is fluent in five languages: German, Dutch, French, English and Hebrew. Early life and education Apotheker's parents were Polish Jews who fled to the Soviet-Chinese border after the Nazis invaded Poland at the outbreak of World War II. After the war, they settled in Aachen, Germany, where Apotheker was born. He later moved to Antwerp, Belgium. By his own account, he organized a student strike in high school, and had two of his teeth knocked out by a policeman on horseback in the melee that followed. At the age of 18, he moved to Israel where he studied economics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Career Early career and SAP: 1988–2010 Prior to joining SAP in 1988, Apotheker held several financial and operations positions at European companies. After joining SAP, he held positions of increasing responsibility; and in 1995 was promoted to CEO and founder of SAP France and SAP Belgium. Later in 1997, he became the president of SAP's South West Europe region; and by 1999, president of SAP EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) sales region. He joined the SAP AG executive board in 2002 and served as the President of Global Field Operations from 2002 to 2007. He was appointed deputy CEO in 2007, and promoted to co-CEO of the company in April 2008 to ensure a smooth handover from his predecessor, Henning Kagermann, when the latter's contract with the company expired. The succession plan was communicated in the business media early in 2008, including Forbes magazine. The