SAP Hires Controversial Executive Julie Roehm

Former Chrysler marketing executive Julie Roehm is the new senior vice president of marketing at business-software company SAP.

Roehm, 40, whose last full-time marketing job ended with a stormy legal battle five years ago, is known in the auto industry for her tenure as marketing communications director at Chrysler. In 2004 she was in the middle of a controversy for signing up Dodge as a co-sponsor of the "Lingerie Bowl" as part of a pay-per-view program during the Super Bowl's halftime show. Under pressure from the public and from dealers, Dodge scrapped the program.

Roehm also initiated several innovative marketing efforts at Chrysler and in 2005 was named sister publication Advertising Age's first Interactive Marketer of the Year.

Roehm joined Chrysler from Ford Motor Co., where she orchestrated the successful U.S. launch of the Focus small car in 1999.

More controversy followed her in 2006 when she left Chrysler to become senior vice president of marketing at retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Her tenure ended there less than a year later after she was fired over an ethics dispute. She later filed a walsuit against Wal-Mart for breach of contract and she alleged the company engaged in a smear campaign against her.

At SAP, Roehm will report to Jonathan Becher, the chief marketing officer. A spokeswoman at SAP told Advertising Age that Roehm will be based in New York. Roehm declined to comment when contacted by Advertising Age, saying only that she was in the "midst of several changes."

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