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SAP’s Jennifer Morgan is the only Philly exec on Fortune’s 2018 Most Powerful Women list

Fortune noted the 47-year-old's "speedy rise, at SAP, going from head of regulated businesses to overseeing all of the Americas, Japan, and Asia Pacific in just five years," as well as her work closing the company's North American gender gap.

Jennifer Morgan, SAP's president of the Americas and Asia Pacific Japan, at the A Call to Lead Summit 2017 in Orlando, Fla.
Jennifer Morgan, SAP's president of the Americas and Asia Pacific Japan, at the A Call to Lead Summit 2017 in Orlando, Fla.Read moreEric Draper for SAP

Fortune's annual Most Powerful Women list dropped this morning and features just one executive in the Philly area: Jennifer Morgan, president of the Americas and Asia Pacific Japan for German software giant SAP.

For Morgan, the first American woman to serve on the company's board, it's her first time making the 51-person list, which started in 1998.

Fortune noted her "speedy rise, at SAP, going from head of regulated businesses to overseeing all of the Americas, Japan, and Asia Pacific in just five years," as well as her work closing the company's North American gender gap.

The list comes at a time when, despite companies' stated dedication to increasing the diversity of management, the leadership of Fortune 500 companies has actually gotten whiter and more male.

In an interview with MontCo Today, Morgan, 47, a native of Fairfax, Va., said she grew up with a strong work ethic: When she was 13, she started working summers in her dad's orthodontics office. In 2004, she joined SAP, shortly after the birth of her second child. SAP's North American headquarters is in Newtown Square.

She also spoke about the guilt she felt when her two boys noted she was the only mother not to attend a sports or school event.

"It killed me!" she said.

When she does attend one of her kids' events, she's vocal in the office about where she's going and why. That transparency is important to her, she said.

Also on the list of local note is Bonnie Hammer, chairman of Comcast NBCUniversal's Cable Entertainment Group, who's based in New York.