SAP has promoted Scott Russell to Asia Pacific Japan president as the enterprise application software vendor seeks increased business and presence in the region.

Russell, who was previously SAP president and managing director for Southeast Asia, is charged with growing SAP's business and presence in APJ, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

SAP says in his Southeast Asia role Russell was instrumental in driving strategy, operations and sustainable growth for SAP across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and other emerging SEA market.

Prior to taking on the Southeast Asia position, Russell had been SAP's chief operating officer for APJ.

Jennifer Morgan, SAP executive board member and America's and Asia Pacific Japan president, says the opportunity ‘has never been bigger' for SAP in APJ to continue to transform customers' businesses and help them grow and thrive in the 21st century economy.

“Scott's vision and commitment to the customer, together with his impressive technology background and leadership experience, make him the right leader to help write the next chapter of SAP APJ's growth and innovation story,” Morgan says.

“The fourth industrial revolution has created unprecedented opportunity to fundamentally improve the state of Asia – across society, the economy and the environment,” Russell says.

“By infusing our innovation into our purpose, SAP's innovative solutions, built on SAP Hana and in the cloud, empower private and public organisations in Asia Pacific to become sustainable digital businesses.

Russell takes on the role vacated by Adaire Fox-Martin in April after three years as APJ president. Fox-Martin was promoted to the SAP executive board and now leads global customer operations, alongside Jennifer Morgan.