Hans-Werner Hector – Billionaire

One of four cofounders of SAP, Hans-Werner Hector built up the North American market for the German software giant and then left the firm in 1997, after a falling out with his partners. The rift occurred after he transferred to a Jersey Islands trust SAP shares representing more than 10% of the company’s voting rights. Hector wanted to diversify his portfolio for tax and money-management purposes, so in 1996, the trustee, Union Bank of Switzerland, began selling the shares to institutional investors. This was said to open the door to the possibility of an investor obtaining a blocking minority that could threaten the founding shareholders’ control over the company. Hector, his wife Josephine and their charitable foundation, H.W. & J. Hector Stiftung, were the sole beneficiaries of the trust. In 2003, Hector, who graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Saarland, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Karlsruhe in recognition of his support of highly talented pupils. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), as it is now known, is renowned for its engineering expertise and counts among its alumni Hector’s fellow SAP co-founders. The Hector School of Engineering and Management was founded in 2005 as a graduate school under the umbrella of KIT. In 2008, Hector established the Hector Science Fund at KIT in the amount of 200 million euros (about $290 million at exchange rates prevailing at the time). Hector and Josephine also support medical research, social projects and art patronage. In 2011, they donated more than $60 million to the German city of Mannheim to renovate its museum.

Mathematician, entrepreneur, and software engineer Hans-Werner Hector has an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion as of March 2013. Born on January 17, 1940 in Kaiserslautern, Germany, he graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Saarland. He has worked for IBM in Mannheim where an idea of the potential managerial standard software came up.

In 1972, Hector, Hasso Plattner, Claus Wellenreuther, Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschirafounded the software company SAP AG or SAP System Analysis and Program Development in Walldorf. After the IPO, the company has grown and he was responsible for the development of the business. Since then, his fortune has grown with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion. According to Forbes, he is the 51st richest person in Germany and the 831st in the world. Hans-Werner Hector also built up the North American market for SAP. However, he left the company in 1997 after a falling out situation with his partners. He sold the majority of shares in 1996 and the proceeds made him an estimated $2 billion richer. He made investments start-up software, biotechnology, and health companies.

As a trained mathematician, Hector holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Karlsruhe for his contribution in the promotion of mathematics, natural sciences and technology among gifted students by conducting the so-called Hector seminars. He also started the HW & J. Hector Foundations provides money to cancer and AIDS research as well as for the art and historic preservation. He and his wife donated more than $600 million in 2011 for the renovation of the city museum in Weinheim. In September 19, 2003, the couple received the Federal Cross of Merit. They are also a recipient of the 2013 Hector Medal of the State of Baden-Wurttemberg.

Source:

1. forbes

2. therichest