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TechSAP

SAP CEO Bill McDermott in recovery after eye accident

Andrew Nusca
By
Andrew Nusca
Andrew Nusca
Editorial Director, Brainstorm; author, Fortune Tech
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Andrew Nusca
By
Andrew Nusca
Andrew Nusca
Editorial Director, Brainstorm; author, Fortune Tech
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 16, 2015, 5:17 PM ET
The Davos World Economic Forum 2015
Bill McDermott, co-chief executive officer of SAP AG, pauses during a break in sessions on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 45th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 21-24. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Jason Alden — Bloomberg/Getty Images

The chief executive of SAP, Europe’s largest software company, is recovering after a July fall led to the loss of his eye.

Bill McDermott, 54, has been working through his medical treatment and recovery and participated in the company’s July 21 earnings call. He expects to travel to the company’s Walldorf, Germany headquarters next month for the first time since the accident, reports the Wall Street Journal. McDermott normally commutes between the company’s offices in the U.S. and Germany.

The injury occurred when McDermott fell down stairs at his brother’s home in the U.S., the Journal reports. He was holding a water glass, which struck his left eye in the fall. Doctors weren’t able to save it.

McDermott told Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, that he is fit to fulfill his CEO duties. His current term expires in 2017.

McDermott, a native New Yorker, has been CEO of SAP since 2014. Between 2010 and 2014, he shared the role with Jim Hagemann Snabe. He first joined SAP in 2002.

Under McDermott’s oversight, SAP has worked to move to a business model based on cloud computing and its Hana in-memory database technology and has expanded its portfolio of business services, which include Concur, the travel and expensing tool; Ariba, the supply chain platform; SuccessFactors, the talent management software; and Hybris, the e-commerce tool. It also struck a high-profile deal with IBM.

In an interview with Fortune in January, McDermott maintained that the company was on track for its five-year plan. “The business network is the sleeper,” he said. (Read the rest of the interview here.)

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

For more on SAP, watch Bill McDermott’s conversation with Fortune’s Geoff Colvin from late last year:

About the Author
Andrew Nusca
By Andrew NuscaEditorial Director, Brainstorm; author, Fortune Tech
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Andrew Nusca is the editorial director of Brainstorm, Fortune's innovation-obsessed community and event series. He also authors Fortune Tech, Fortune’s flagship tech newsletter.

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