William R. McDermott (born August 18, 1961) is an American businessman and CEO of ServiceNow. Before ServiceNow, he was the CEO of the technology company

SAP SE Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a sepa ...

. During his tenure as co-CEO and CEO, SAP's market value increased from $39 billion to $156 billion. McDermott, along with Joanne Gordon, wrote a memoir, ''Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office'', and was awarded a gold medal for business memoir of the year by the Axiom Business Book Awards. McDermott began his role as CEO of ServiceNow in November 2019.

Early years

Bill McDermott was born in Amityville on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, where he also grew up. He is one of four children to Kathleen and Bill McDermott and a grandson to

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

player Bobby McDermott. At age 16, he bought the Amityville Country Delicatessen in Long Island for $7,000.

Education

McDermott studied Business Management at Dowling College. His deli business helped him pay for his undergraduate education. After completing his undergraduate studies, McDermott attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

's Kellogg School of Management where he earned his MBA, and then completed the Executive Development Program at the

Wharton School of Business The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

Career

Xerox, Gartner and Siebel Systems

McDermott worked for 17 years at Xerox and then became the president of

Gartner Gartner, Inc is a technological research and consulting firm based in Stamford, Connecticut that conducts research on technology and shares this research both through private consulting as well as executive programs and conferences. Its clients ...

in 2000. From 2001 to 2002, he was executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations at

Siebel Systems Siebel Systems, Inc. () was a software company principally engaged in the design, development, marketing, and support of customer relationship management (CRM) applications—notably Siebel CRM. The company was founded by Thomas Siebel and Pat ...

SAP

In 2002, McDermott was appointed by SAP as the CEO of SAP America. He was designated to the SAP Executive Board in 2008, and in February 2010, he became the co-CEO of SAP AG. After four years, on May 21, 2014, McDermott became the first American to become the CEO of the company, now known as

. Since 2010, SAP's market cap has increased from $39 billion to $144.7 billion by February 2018. In 2016 McDermott became the best-paid executive leading the companies that form the German stock index

DAX Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

by earning a direct remuneration of €11.6 million. On October 10, 2019, McDermott decided to leave SAP SE. SAP did many acquisitions under his tenure, starting with Sybase in 2010.

ServiceNow

At the end of October 2019 after McDermott stepped down from SAP, ServiceNow announced his appointment as CEO. He succeeded

John Donahoe John Joseph Donahoe II (born April 30, 1960) is an American businessman who is the CEO of Nike. Early in his career he worked for Bain & Company, becoming the firm's president and CEO in 1999. He is on the board of directors at Nike, The Bridgespa ...

at the end of 2019 as Donahoe finished his tenure at the company. He cited "the company’s strength in cloud computing and enterprise software, and the challenge of building an already vibrant company further" as reasons for him to join ServiceNow as CEO. In 2021, McDermott was the 3rd highest paid

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of all

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...

CEOs, receiving over $162 million in

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

and $3.5 million in cash and other forms of compensation from ServiceNow.

Awards and honors

In 2016, McDermott was named "Manager of the Year" by the German Business Daily ''

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Du ...

''. He has received numerous awards for his civic leadership, which includes: # GENYOUth's Vanguard Award. # City Year's Idealist of the Year. # The We Are Family Foundation's Visionary Award, # Children's Aid Society's Promise Award. McDermott recently was recognized as a top CEO by Glassdoor in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Affiliations

McDermott is a member of the

Business Roundtable The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major United States companies. Unlike the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, BRT ...

Personal life

McDermott and his wife Julie have two sons. In July 2015, McDermott slipped and fell down the stairs while carrying a glass of water. The glass shattered into pieces, with one going through his left eye. He underwent "11 or 12 surgeries by the time it was all done", but ultimately the accident cost him his left eye. McDermott returned to SAP headquarters in October of that same year.

References

External links

McDermott profile
gulfbusiness.com, October 2012; accessed March 31, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:McDermott, Bill Living people SAP SE people American technology chief executives People from Amityville, New York Businesspeople from New York (state) Kellogg School of Management alumni Dowling College alumni Wharton School alumni 1961 births