SAP has announced that Shai Agassi will resign as president of SAP’s product and technology group. A new executive council is set to take over.

"While we regret Shai's decision to leave, we congratulate him on his record of achievement at SAP," said Hasso Plattner, company founder and chairman, SAP Supervisory Board. "Shai drove the company's successful platform strategy, led innovation that helped SAP grow and continue market leadership, as well as set the stage for the future of business software."

Agassi was viewed as a potential successor to SAP's current CEO, Henning Kagermann. Kagermann's term was set to expire later this year, but SAP's supervisory board extended his contract until May 2009.

According to Plattner, the decision to extend Kagermann's contract did not go down well with Agassi, who wanted to become the CEO, much before that.

Agassi now wants to focus on alternative energy and environmental-policy issues. "I look forward to new opportunities and working on issues that are important to me, including alternative energy and environmental-policy issues, as well as the future of Israel," he said.

Agassi will be retained as a special consultant to SAP's supervisory board chairman office, with an office on the company's Palo Alto, Calif, campus.