Global Management

Thomas Herbst founded apsolut together with Tim Kollmeier in 2005, focusing on IT applications in the field of eProcurement based on SAP Supplier Relationship Management. For over 15 years, apsolut has been active in the field of procurement and has become a household name in the consulting world. The company's main objective is to advise customers and improve them according to their business processes and requirements and to increase operational efficiency and productivity and reduce costs. Following its success in the procurement space and as part of its expansion strategy, apsolut has spread its wings to SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass, SAP S/4HANA Central Procurement, SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management, integration solutions, SAP Fiori and additional solution add-ons. As the epitome of delivery quality and dedicated customer service, apsolut has developed a strong customer base.

Thomas holds a degree in industrial engineering from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences. He started his career as a consultant at HewlettPackard, where he worked on optimising SAP-based procurement processes for several customers. His systematic way of learning and his leadership skills took him to the next career level and he took over responsibility for the entire SAP consulting area at Heiler Software AG.

Thomas is the personification of honesty and commitment. He is a visionary and inspiring leader. His tireless efforts have made him the majority owner of apsolut subsidiaries in Germany, India, Spain, the UK, China, Austria and Switzerland. His motto "grow and let grow" has paved the way for many aspiring leaders. His fairness towards colleagues has made him a role model for people. His company ideology has made apsolut one of the best companies in the market.

Jürgen West, entrepreneur, worked in the tourism industry as authorised signatory until 2000 and then switched to internet programming and the area of SAP application programming. As an in-house consultant and developer at Münster University Hospital, he was initially responsible for the further development and roll-out of the SAP SRM system for the peripheral areas of the hospital and the laboratories.

At the beginning of 2006, Mr. West joined apsolut and became the driving force behind the development of a framework for SAP SRM development required for efficient implementation in customer systems. In July 2010, Mr. West took over the management of SAP SRM development and, from January 2011, headed the entire development department as a partner. Since the beginning of 2017, as Senior Partner, he has been responsible for coordinating all internal and external company requirements in his area and for support worldwide. He also integrates the activities of the development department with the overarching corporate goals.

Jean-Paul Wehrens, M.Sc. (IB), worked as an SAP consultant at Hewlett-Packard GmbH Germany from 2001 to 2007. There, he served renowned major customers in national and international projects as project manager, with a focus on SAP purchasing processes. From 2005 he worked as Account Program Manager (EMEA) in HPs Managed Services division.

In July 2007, Mr. Wehrens moved to apsolut GmbH, where he took over the management of SAP SRM process consulting and finally built up the business area of strategic SAP SRM procurement processes. As a partner, Wehrens was responsible for the strategic SAP consulting business from 2011 and further expanded it internationally with the associated structures, partnerships and networks.

In 2017, Wehrens was promoted to Senior Partner and thus to the Executive Board.

From 2017-2020, Wehrens was responsible for the Ariba consulting business worldwide as well as the consulting business around strategic processes in the On-Premise environment.

Since 2021, he has been responsible for the global consulting business, which includes the entire apsolut product portfolio.

After +25 years in different sales and management functions Mr. Bernzen spend his first 10 years at SAP where he was able to witness the launch of B2B Procurement later called SRM. He had the opportunity to join the newly formed SAP Marketplace team based in the US (SAP Labs) 1999 where e-procurement was one fundamental part of the initial solution. His next career step was to build the US market for an SAP Partner (Heiler now Informatica) where he was able to position software and services to global companies such as Daimler and GM. After a total of 5 years in US Mr. Bernzen (privately) decided to move back to Europe, and started at HP back in Germany as the Global Alliance Director managing the HP Software and SAP Alliance business before he moved on into IT Management and Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning space for the last 6 years.

Since FY22 Mr. Bernzen responsible for global sales, sales business operations and corporate marketing to help achieve the apsolut Group growth plan and vision for 2026 on a global scale.

Timo Schreiner, a digital process and technology enthusiast with more than 25 years of Consulting experience gained at several global consulting companies. He held various leadership, sales and delivery roles and was responsible for the DACH region and Europe as Executive Partner and Member of the Europe Consulting Leadership Team. His most recent experience was as a Consulting Practice Leader for the department of European Procurement and Ariba DACH and was also Lead Partner for large-scale SAP-driven enterprise transformation programs in Automotive, Manufacturing, Process and Oil & Gas industries.

In his role as Global Consulting Leader P2P and Head of Business Transformation Services, Timo Schreiner is responsible for the global consulting solution portfolio and the development of Next Generation Digital Transformation Consulting Services for Procurement and Supply Chain Management at apsolut.

Paparao Madasu, an Industrial and Production Engineer, was born and brought-up in India. Mr. Madasu’s passion for high-end cars has drawn him to Germany, where he completed his Post-Graduation from Technical University of Berlin with specialization in Logistics & Supply Chain Management. Thereafter, he worked in Germany as an SAP SRM-Consultant with various clients from variety of industries and emerged into an SAP SRM-Solution Expert at apsolut.

With his international exposure from various industries, Mr. Madasu has taken apsolut to India in 2009 and with a vision to expand company’s global operations. He has built a well-established offshore infrastructure and developed a strong SAP SRM-team in India, in-line with the global strategies of apsolut group.

Adi Abu-Taha Zitawi (Software Engineer) worked as a SAP Consultant at Accenture in Spain from 2004-2010, acquiring extensive experience in a number of implementations, upgrades and roll-outs of SAP-solutions running on SAP ECC and SAP SRM. In 2010, he became a freelance consultant specializing in SAP SRM, obtaining the SAP SRM 7.0 Application Associate certificate.

In mid-2012, together with Thomas Herbst and Tim Kollmeier, he co-founded apsolut Spain SL, therefore creating one of the six subsidiaries of apsolut GmbH. His more than 15 years of experience with SAP, as well as his fluent multilingual communication skills in English, Spanish, Arabic and French, allow both Mr. Zitawi and his team based in Málaga, Spain to provide SAP eProcurement solutions in Spain, Europe, Middle East and North Africa.

Zayd Mauthoor, a Graduate in Business Management, Languages and Literature (BA), completed his degree from the University of Normandy in France. He now has over 14 years of international experience in the field of Project Management, Purchasing, P2P & SAP-eProcurement having started his career at Caversham Group in 2002. Whilst there, he had his first exposure to eProcurement including SAP Ariba and SAP. From there he moved on to Cattles Group and spent the next few years holding various senior positions with the following functions, Project Manager, National Accounts Manager, within P2P & Finance. Since then, Mr. Mauthoor has gained further excellent management experience in an international environment having delivered successful projects, managed and trained teams of up to 30 within the eProcurement market.

In 2012, Mr. Mauthoor was hired as General Manager at apsolut UK, and his role includes managing the UK Operations as well as leading Pre-sales activities and Consulting in the areas of SAP P2P, S2P and SAP Ariba.

Bo Su graduated in Computer Sciences, started his university career in Tianjin, China, and later went to Stuttgart, Germany in July 2008 to keep on studying over there. It is since October 2008 that Mr. Su has gained interbranch experience with SAP, namely with numerous projects at apsolut concerning international customer projects. Being responsible for the area ABAP development and the customizing of applications, he carried out many SAP SRM (B2B) projects as a team leader.

Mr. Su became apsolut's director in China in May 2014. He is not only managing the business in China, but also activities in the sales area as well as electronic purchase based on SAP and SAP Ariba.