Does SAP still love Delco? Yes, says SAP North America President Jennifer Morgan

Tom Paine

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Downtown Newtown Square

Update 8/21: In a letter to the Delco Times, SAP North America President Jennifer Morgan reaffirmed SAP's commitment to keeping its NA headquarters in Newtown Square.

"Delaware County and the greater Philadelphia area is our home and it will continue to be the home of SAP in North America even as we continue to grow, expand, and refine our real estate footprint across the U.S. and Canada," she wrote.




Don't know what to make of a SAP America SVP dissing Delco.

In an article in the Daily Local News, Brian Reaves, senior vice president and head of diversity and inclusion at SAP, seemed to suggest that SAP America's east coast center of gravity would shift from Newtown Square (Delaware County PA) to New York City, where the company is opening spanking new offices at Hudson Yards. He found about three different ways to say Delco wasn't cool enough to attract millenial workers.

One minor quibble: neither the original Daily Local article or the followup article identified the context in which Reaves remarks were made; the occasion, the reason for the remarks, etc.

“Quite honestly, kind of like what’s happening in Germany right now, although we’re in Waldorf, Germany, where we’ve now opened up Berlin, people start to see the major cities as - I think in people’s minds regardless of what the physical paper looks like, I would think they’ll start to brand us more tied to New York City. So, it’s pretty exciting, pretty exciting coming up.”

Reaves said that while Newtown Square would remain North American headquarters from a "legal perspective," in substance New York City would be.

Newtown Square, where around the corner from SAP the Foxcatcher tragedy took place (before SAP arrived). Which once hosted a PGA Championship at Aronimink, only to lose its last  opportunity to host a major due to lack of minority membership. Where I used to stare at cornfields from my office on the other side of Route 3.

But those things are in the past. SAP moved to Newtown Square from a location near the airport around 2000. Its changed, and even has some chain restaurants and a Whole Foods. And people outnumber horses. On the whole a nice place and a trendy and wealthy zip, but it doesn't offer much housing for young people and its true to say its a far cry from NYC.

The sense I get from the article is that Reaves was out of line, and SAP communications people pushed back against his comments, restating SAP's commitment to keeping North American headquarters in Newtown Square, which SAP says now houses 2800 employees. But no doubt there was a grain of truth in Reaves' comments.