SAP Seeks New Channel Chief Following Cardenuto's Departure

SAP is searching for a new global channel chief after the recent departure of Rodolpho Cardenuto, the president of SAP's Global Partner Organization (GPO) for nearly five years.

Cardenuto left SAP last month to "pursue his next endeavor," according to an SAP spokesperson.

No additional information on Cardenuto's departure was available. His personal LinkedIn page still lists his current position as president of SAP GPO.

[Related: SAP’s $8B Deal To Acquire Qualtrics Comes Just Days After IPO Filing]

Cardenuto's departure came as a surprise to Tomas Fertig, president and CEO of Seidor, a multinational IT services and consulting company that is one of SAP's leading channel partners. "I did not expect it. Having no replacement yet obviously makes everybody nervous and expectations become high, especially for us, who have deeply invested in the SAP partner program," he said in an email to CRN.

The SAP spokesperson said the company has yet to name a successor for Cardenuto and did not provide a timetable for hiring his replacement.

"Our main expectation is to have a replacement [who] is partner friendly," Fertig said. "SAP's path through partners should be confirmed with actions, [naming] a replacement who knows the reality of partners and how the business with partners works, and who can respect long-term investments from the partner community."

As president of SAP's Global Partner Organization, Cardenuto was instrumental in expanding SAP's channel efforts, including boosting software sales through partners, growing the roster of partners in the company's PartnerEdge program and launching the Cloud Choice initiative through which partners sell SAP cloud applications.

Cardenuto worked at SAP for nearly 11 years. A native of Brazil, he joined the company in July 2008 as president of SAP Latin America. In January 2013 he moved up to president of SAP Americas where he served for one-and-a-half years before being named GPO president in May 2014.