Agassi, who grew up in Raanana, is chief technology developer of the world's largest business-software company, SAP of Germany. "He started four companies in his 20s," TIME writes, "and sold one, Top Tier, to SAP for $400 million. He ran a subsidiary, SAP Portals, and developed XApps -- new software designed to work with existing systems. In February, SAP made Agassi the first non-German member of its board, and he replaced SAP founder Hasso Plattner in the top technologist role." TIME also quotes him as saying, when asked to define his vision, "Training people on computer systems is stupid. We need to train the systems to work with people."
Shai's father, who ran one his companies with him, said, "We've always been proud of him, so there's nothing to get excited about now. He was always full of motivation, vision, and ideas." Shai himself, who said, "I don't really think I'm one of the most influential people in the global economy; it's all the media," learned how to write at the age of 2, programmed computers at age 9, and graduated Haifa's Technion University at age 18.
Shai's father, who ran one his companies with him, said, "We've always been proud of him, so there's nothing to get excited about now. He was always full of motivation, vision, and ideas." Shai himself, who said, "I don't really think I'm one of the most influential people in the global economy; it's all the media," learned how to write at the age of 2, programmed computers at age 9, and graduated Haifa's Technion University at age 18.