# Jens Kruger

> Jens Kruger is the European co-CEO of NEWWORK Software and a former chief product architect at Workday. His career includes in-memory database research at the Hasso Plattner Institute, SAP finance development and Innovation Center leadership, and an associate partner role at McKinsey Digital. His current public writing focuses on AI that executes business workflows with permissions, approvals and human control.

- **Role:** Co-CEO (Europe) at NEWWORK Software
- **Organizations:** NEWWORK Software, Workday, McKinsey Digital, SAP, Hasso Plattner Institute, AI Fabric
- **Education:** Diplom in Business Administration (Dipl.-Kfm.), Free University of Berlin, Doctorate in Computer Science (Dr. rer. nat.), Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam
- **Known for:** Founding member of the joint HPI–SAP research project that built the first SAP HANA prototype., Co-author of the 2010 HYRISE hybrid in-memory storage research paper., Led finance product development as a senior vice president at SAP and co-led its Potsdam Innovation Center.

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Joined Hasso Plattner's research chair at HPI.
- **2010** — Co-authored HYRISE: A Main Memory Hybrid Storage Engine.
- **2013** — Joined SAP in September after serving as co-representative of Plattner's research chair.
- **2014** — Completed doctoral dissertation on enterprise-specific in-memory data management; co-led the SAP Innovation Center in Potsdam at its February opening.
- **—** — Served as SAP senior vice president responsible for finance product development, then associate partner at McKinsey Digital.
- **2019** — Joined Workday in March as CTO for EMEA.
- **2021** — Identified by Workday as chief product architect; gave an April interview on cloud architecture and SaaS.
- **2026** — Listed as European CEO at NEWWORK and by his company-authored April article as co-CEO.

## Achievements

- Founding member of the joint HPI–SAP research project that built the first SAP HANA prototype.
- Co-author of the 2010 HYRISE hybrid in-memory storage research paper.
- Led finance product development as a senior vice president at SAP and co-led its Potsdam Innovation Center.
- Served as chief product architect and EMEA CTO at Workday.
- Author of SAP Simple Finance and SAP S/4HANA Finance: An Introduction.
- Chairman of the AI Fabric institute advisory board, identified at its May 2026 launch.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Published Beyond AI Assistants: Why We Need a Real System of Work on April 12.
- **2026-05** — Delivered a greeting at the AI Fabric institute launch in Plauen as advisory board chairman; the event photograph is dated May 8 and coverage was published May 13.
- **2026-05** — Published his Erdbeere experiment article on May 19, connecting AI errors with the need for governed execution.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jnkrueger/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jens-kruger
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11