# Bill McDermott
**Bill McDermott** (William R. McDermott) is an American technology executive who rose from selling Xerox copiers door-to-door to lead two multibillion-dollar enterprise software companies, serving as chief executive officer of SAP from 2010 to 2019 and of [ServiceNow](https://www.edgepedia.org/servicenow) from late 2019 to the present, where he is also chairman.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000119312519271896/d805784dex991.htm) • [2](https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2025.3_JUL/PUR/LEADERS_McDermott_ServiceNow.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| SAP tenure | President of SAP America from 2002; co-CEO with Jim Hagemann Snabe from February 7, 2010; sole and first non-European CEO from May 2014 until October 2019[3](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084) • [4](https://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/btis/ahead-in-the-cloud-thriving-in-the-marketplace-of-tomorrow/) |
| SAP acquisitions | $26 billion spent on six key cloud acquisitions since 2011, including SuccessFactors ($3.4B), Ariba (2012), Concur ($8.3B), Callidus ($2.4B), and Qualtrics ($8B, SAP's biggest deal)[5](https://cxotoday.com/newsletter/will-sap-miss-bill-mcdermott-or-is-it-better-this-way/) • [6](https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-mcdermott-sap-ceo-acquisitions-elliott-management-2019-10) |
| SAP market value | Tripled to approximately $140 billion per ServiceNow's 2019 press release; ServiceNow's own bio states an increase from $39 billion to $163 billion[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000119312519271896/d805784dex991.htm) • [7](https://www.servicenow.com/company/leadership/bill-mcdermott.html) |
| ServiceNow growth | Annual revenue grew from $3.46 billion in 2019 to $13.3 billion in 2025 and, as reported in May 2026, was on track to surpass $15 billion that year; market cap exceeded $195 billion in October 2024[8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/) • [9](https://fortune.com/2024/10/31/7-questions-for-servicenows-bill-mcdermott-who-runs-a-195-billion-company-and-sleeps-only-5-hours-a-night/) |
| AI-era deals | Moveworks ($2.85B, completed December 2025) and Armis ($7.75B, closed April 2026) anchor an agentic AI and security strategy[8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/) |
| Compensation | $51,550,957 in fiscal 2025 as ServiceNow CEO, 11th among technology CEOs, 84% in stock awards[10](https://compensationbase.com/companies/servicenow) |
| Memoir | *Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office* (2014)[3](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084) • [11](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/10/14/bill-mcdermott-what-you-can-learn-from-the-ceo-of-sap/) |
## Early life and Xerox years
McDermott grew up in a working-class family on [Long Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/long-island), New York. At 16 he traded three hourly wage jobs to buy a small deli from its owner for $7,000 in promissory notes.[12](https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/mcdermott-has-world-domination-in-his-sights-after-near-death-experience-1.3267307) • [3](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084)
**The Xerox playbook.** In 1983 he talked his way into an entry-level sales position at Xerox, selling copiers door-to-door, and stayed 17 years.[13](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44894414) He ranked number one in every sales position he held and became the company's youngest-ever corporate officer; in one year he took the Puerto Rican sales district from the bottom to the top of Xerox's hierarchy, and in 1997 his division received the Malcolm Baldrige Award.[3](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084) • [14](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-mcdermott/winners-dream/) • [4](https://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/btis/ahead-in-the-cloud-thriving-in-the-marketplace-of-tomorrow/) He then held senior positions at Gartner and [Siebel Systems](https://www.edgepedia.org/siebel-systems) before joining SAP.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000119312519271896/d805784dex991.htm)
## Rise at SAP
At SAP America he doubled sales in a year, helping counter the effects of the 2008 financial crisis.[14](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-mcdermott/winners-dream/) On February 7, 2010 he was appointed co-CEO alongside Jim Hagemann Snabe, replacing Léo Apotheker, and the pair set a goal of doubling SAP, then a 38-year-old company ranked number one in business software, within five years.[4](https://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/btis/ahead-in-the-cloud-thriving-in-the-marketplace-of-tomorrow/) • [15](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/sap-maintains-dual-ceo-tradition-as-bill-mcdermott-departs.html) • [16](https://www.forbes.com/2010/10/05/mcdermott-sap-ceo-leadership-managing-interview.html) When Snabe exited in 2014, McDermott became sole CEO, the first non-European to hold the job.[15](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/sap-maintains-dual-ceo-tradition-as-bill-mcdermott-departs.html) • [3](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084)
His tenure pushed SAP toward cloud computing under the mantra "Run simple," which argued that because roughly 90% of most companies' IT budgets go to maintenance, spending should shift to a sixty-forty split.[17](https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/article/22008045/the-quest-to-simplify-manufacturing-it) By his final full year, SAP revenues had risen to nearly €23.5 billion, almost 90% higher than in 2010.[13](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44894414)
## The SAP acquisition record
McDermott spent $26 billion on six key cloud acquisitions since 2011.[5](https://cxotoday.com/newsletter/will-sap-miss-bill-mcdermott-or-is-it-better-this-way/) The named deals were [SuccessFactors](https://www.edgepedia.org/successfactors), a SaaS human capital management provider, for $3.4 billion in 2011; Ariba, in supply chain and procurement software, in 2012; Concur, in travel and expense management, for $8.3 billion in 2014; Callidus, in sales performance management, for $2.4 billion; and more than a dozen smaller purchases.[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-mcdermott-sap-ceo-acquisitions-elliott-management-2019-10) • [18](https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/sap-gets-new-leadership-for-cloud-ai-era)
**Qualtrics.** In fall 2018 SAP agreed to acquire the customer relationship platform [Qualtrics](https://www.edgepedia.org/qualtrics) for $8 billion in cash, its biggest deal, ahead of a planned IPO where financial experts had estimated it could be worth around $5 billion.[19](https://e3mag.com/en/bill-mcdermott-brilliant-seller/) • [20](https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/sap-reverts-to-co-ceos-after-showman-mcdermotts-decade-of-growth-idUSKBN1WP36S/) Analysts criticized the purchase as too expensive, and the concern that acquisitions had caused SAP to lose focus became a theme of activist investor Elliott's entry into the stock in 2019.[5](https://cxotoday.com/newsletter/will-sap-miss-bill-mcdermott-or-is-it-better-this-way/) • [20](https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/sap-reverts-to-co-ceos-after-showman-mcdermotts-decade-of-growth-idUSKBN1WP36S/)
## Departure from SAP and move to ServiceNow
McDermott stepped down in October 2019 after a decade, handing the task of completing the cloud transition to co-CEOs Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein.[20](https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/sap-reverts-to-co-ceos-after-showman-mcdermotts-decade-of-growth-idUSKBN1WP36S/) His exit followed Elliott's arrival that year amid broader market concern about the acquisition strategy.[20](https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/sap-reverts-to-co-ceos-after-showman-mcdermotts-decade-of-growth-idUSKBN1WP36S/)
Weeks later, on October 22, 2019, ServiceNow announced that McDermott would join by year-end as President and CEO, and a board member, succeeding [John Donahoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-donahoe), who left in January 2020 to run Nike.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000119312519271896/d805784dex991.htm) He was named ServiceNow chairman in 2022.[2](https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2025.3_JUL/PUR/LEADERS_McDermott_ServiceNow.html)
## ServiceNow under McDermott
Annual revenue was $3.46 billion the year he joined and totaled $13.3 billion in 2025; as reported in May 2026, it was on track to surpass $15 billion that year; the company's 2024 annual report describes a 20%-plus grower operating at a "rule of 54+" with a medium-term target of $15 billion-plus revenue by 2026.[8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/) • [21](https://www.servicenow.com/standard/public-document/servicenow-annual-report-2024.html) By October 2024 the company had 26,000 employees, quarterly revenues of $2.8 billion, and a market cap above $195 billion.[9](https://fortune.com/2024/10/31/7-questions-for-servicenows-bill-mcdermott-who-runs-a-195-billion-company-and-sleeps-only-5-hours-a-night/)
**The AI pivot.** McDermott says ServiceNow began building large language models into its platform around 2019, before agentic AI emerged, and he has articulated four AI design principles: human-centered design, inclusivity, transparency, and accountability.[2](https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2025.3_JUL/PUR/LEADERS_McDermott_ServiceNow.html) ServiceNow completed its $2.85 billion acquisition of the agentic AI startup [Moveworks](https://www.edgepedia.org/moveworks) in December 2025 after nine months of regulatory review, and closed the $7.75 billion purchase of cybersecurity firm Armis in April 2026; at [Knowledge](https://www.edgepedia.org/knowledge) 2026 it launched Otto, a unified agentic front door built on Moveworks that puts conversational AI in the hands of every employee across underlying systems, and Action Fabric, a service that lets AI agents interact with ServiceNow apps and creates a usage-based monetization model beyond seat-based licensing.[8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/) • [22](https://diginomica.com/knowledge-2026-ceo-bill-mcdermott-was-playing-chess-last-year-now-he-says-servicenow-manages) The company positions its AI Control Tower as onboarding, monitoring, and managing every [AI agent](https://www.edgepedia.org/ai-agent), native and third-party.[23](https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2026.3_Jul/PUR/LEADERS-Bill-McDermott-ServiceNow.html)
McDermott argues AI is a tailwind rather than a threat to enterprise software, countering investor fears that hyperscalers and foundation-model companies will absorb the sector; his stated logic is that AI models without a company's data context are just "expensive advice," because enterprise software is the gateway to enterprise data.[24](https://www.fastcompany.com/91540111/servicenows-bill-mcdermott-insists-silicon-valley-is-getting-enterprise-ai-wrong) • [8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/) He puts ServiceNow's total addressable market at at least $600 billion, up from $90 billion when he joined.[25](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/servicenow-ceo-builds-new-business-model-around-ai-3c103d86)
## By the numbers
The two CEO tenures differ in scale and in the market's reception. At SAP, market value roughly tripled, though the two ServiceNow-affiliated accounts disagree on the endpoint: the 2019 press release says SAP tripled its market value to approximately $140 billion, while ServiceNow's current bio says it increased from $39 billion to $163 billion.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000119312519271896/d805784dex991.htm) • [7](https://www.servicenow.com/company/leadership/bill-mcdermott.html) At ServiceNow, revenue has grown about 3.8 times from $3.46 billion to $13.3 billion in six years.[8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/)
**Pay.** In Germany, McDermott's total SAP pay jumped to €15.6 million in one year, surpassing Daimler's Dieter Zetsche and making him the highest-paid executive at a German public company.[12](https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/mcdermott-has-world-domination-in-his-sights-after-near-death-experience-1.3267307) A German magazine account puts his 2017 remuneration at around €10 million plus just over €11 million in share options.[19](https://e3mag.com/en/bill-mcdermott-brilliant-seller/) At ServiceNow, a compensation aggregator drawing on proxy-statement data reports fiscal 2025 pay of $51,550,957, ranking 11th among technology CEOs, 84% of it in stock awards; the figure is grant-date fair value, not cash received.[10](https://compensationbase.com/companies/servicenow)
**2026 pressure.** As of May 2026, ServiceNow shares were down 39% in 2026 and more than 55% from their 52-week high amid "Saaspocalypse" fears that AI will undermine SaaS business models; the company had forecast doubling revenue to at least $30 billion by 2030. McDermott bought $3 million of ServiceNow stock in February 2026 and, in the May 2026 interview, at 64, predicted the company would become a trillion-dollar business.[8](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/)
## Management philosophy and books
McDermott's memoir, *Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office* (2014), tells the deli-to-corner-office story and frames his method.[3](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084) • [11](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/10/14/bill-mcdermott-what-you-can-learn-from-the-ceo-of-sap/) Its recurring themes are vision paired with execution: Selling Power describes his methodology as balancing "the audacity of a dream with the micromanagement of reality."
[26](https://www.sellingpower.com/2020/12/14/17730/bill-mcdermotts-secrets-for-success-as-a-way-of-life/) On leadership he has said it "starts with articulating a vision, a cause," citing SAP's aim to "make the world run better and improve people's lives," and that "the days of the autocratic command-and-control leader are over" in favor of constant communication with the board, management, workers, and customers.[27](https://www.success.com/power-doesnt-come-from-a-title) On hiring, he says "trust is the ultimate human currency" and that the best leaders hire people substantially better than themselves in every domain of expertise.[9](https://fortune.com/2024/10/31/7-questions-for-servicenows-bill-mcdermott-who-runs-a-195-billion-company-and-sleeps-only-5-hours-a-night/) His customer philosophy, stated at SAP, is that companies do not want to buy software, they want to buy an outcome.[28](https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/ceosmith-bill-mcdermott-sap)
## References
1. [ServiceNow EX-99.1 press release, October 22, 2019 (SEC filing)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1373715/000119312519271896/d805784dex991.htm)
2. [LEADERS Interview with Bill McDermott, July 2025](https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2025.3_JUL/PUR/LEADERS_McDermott_ServiceNow.html)
3. [Winners Dream, official publisher page, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winners-Dream/Bill-McDermott/9781476761084)
4. [Ahead in the Cloud, Center for Digital Strategies, Dartmouth Tuck](https://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu/btis/ahead-in-the-cloud-thriving-in-the-marketplace-of-tomorrow/)
5. [Will SAP Miss Bill McDermott or Is It Better This Way? CXOtoday](https://cxotoday.com/newsletter/will-sap-miss-bill-mcdermott-or-is-it-better-this-way/)
6. [Bill McDermott Leaves SAP After Pricey Acquisitions, Activist Investor, Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-mcdermott-sap-ceo-acquisitions-elliott-management-2019-10)
7. [Bill McDermott, ServiceNow Leadership](https://www.servicenow.com/company/leadership/bill-mcdermott.html)
8. [ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott interview, Fortune, May 2026](https://fortune.com/2026/05/08/servicenow-ceo-bill-mcdermott/)
9. [7 questions for ServiceNow's Bill McDermott, Fortune, October 2024](https://fortune.com/2024/10/31/7-questions-for-servicenows-bill-mcdermott-who-runs-a-195-billion-company-and-sleeps-only-5-hours-a-night/)
10. [William R. McDermott, ServiceNow CEO pay, CompensationBase](https://compensationbase.com/companies/servicenow)
11. [Bill McDermott: What You Can Learn From The CEO Of SAP, Forbes, 2014](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/10/14/bill-mcdermott-what-you-can-learn-from-the-ceo-of-sap/)
12. [McDermott has world domination in his sights after near-death experience, Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/mcdermott-has-world-domination-in-his-sights-after-near-death-experience-1.3267307)
13. [It never entered my mind that I wasn't coming back, BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44894414)
14. [Winners Dream, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-mcdermott/winners-dream/)
15. [SAP maintains dual CEO tradition as Bill McDermott departs, CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/sap-maintains-dual-ceo-tradition-as-bill-mcdermott-departs.html)
16. [From Running A Deli To Head Of SAP, Forbes, 2010](https://www.forbes.com/2010/10/05/mcdermott-sap-ceo-leadership-managing-interview.html)
17. [The Quest to Simplify Manufacturing IT, IndustryWeek](https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/article/22008045/the-quest-to-simplify-manufacturing-it)
18. [SAP Gets New Leadership for Cloud, AI Era, InformationWeek](https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/sap-gets-new-leadership-for-cloud-ai-era)
19. [Bill McDermott, Genius salesman, E3-Magazine](https://e3mag.com/en/bill-mcdermott-brilliant-seller/)
20. [SAP reverts to co-CEOs after showman McDermott's decade of growth, Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/sap-reverts-to-co-ceos-after-showman-mcdermotts-decade-of-growth-idUSKBN1WP36S/)
21. [ServiceNow Annual Report 2024](https://www.servicenow.com/standard/public-document/servicenow-annual-report-2024.html)
22. [Knowledge 2026: CEO Bill McDermott, diginomica](https://diginomica.com/knowledge-2026-ceo-bill-mcdermott-was-playing-chess-last-year-now-he-says-servicenow-manages)
23. [LEADERS Interview with Bill McDermott, July 2026](https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2026.3_Jul/PUR/LEADERS-Bill-McDermott-ServiceNow.html)
24. [ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott: Silicon Valley is getting enterprise AI wrong, Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/91540111/servicenows-bill-mcdermott-insists-silicon-valley-is-getting-enterprise-ai-wrong)
25. [ServiceNow CEO Builds New Business Model Around AI, WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/servicenow-ceo-builds-new-business-model-around-ai-3c103d86)
26. [Bill McDermott's Secrets for Success as a Way of Life, Selling Power](https://www.sellingpower.com/2020/12/14/17730/bill-mcdermotts-secrets-for-success-as-a-way-of-life/)
27. [Power Doesn't Come from a Title, SUCCESS](https://www.success.com/power-doesnt-come-from-a-title)
28. [CEO@Smith: Bill McDermott, SAP, Robert H. Smith School of Business](https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/ceosmith-bill-mcdermott-sap)
29. [The Big Interview: Bill McDermott, CEO, ServiceNow, Tech Monitor](https://www.techmonitor.ai/hardware/bill-mcdermott-interview-ceo-servicenow/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Business and work › Business and work overview › Businesspeople and entrepreneurs › Corporate executives and managers › Technology executives*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 10, 2026; Oct 11, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*
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