Henning Kagermann

Henning Kagermann isn't your typical button-down executive. With his penetrating blue eyes and Einstein-like mop of silvering hair, the CEO of German software giant SAP (SAP ) looks more like the theoretical physics professor he was until age 35 than a globe-trotting business leader. He even has a well-known taste for heavy metal music.

But don't be misled. Kagermann, 56, who became SAP's sole CEO in May, 2003, after sharing the job for five years with chairman Hasso Plattner, guided SAP through the dark days of the tech downturn with as much bottom-line toughness as any MBA. Now, with sales expected to head up again, by 4% this year and 9% in 2005, Kagermann can devote more time to his passion for new technology. SAP is the world's largest supplier of run-the-business software -- sales, accounting, manufacturing, and so on -- with tens of thousands of big corporate clients. But critics have faulted it in the past for plodding innovation. During the Internet boom, for instance, SAP took heat for being late to grasp the Net's impact. It scrambled to retool its software for browsers and Web servers and eventually emerged triumphant over dot-com rivals. Today, Kagermann says, "the waves of change are coming faster." SAP won't be fooled again.