In Memoriam: Dr. Mathias Kirchmer

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer, Managing Director of Scheer Americas and a thought leader in the field of
Business Process Management (BPM), passed away on Wednesday, March 18 2026, at the age of 62.
His loss is felt deeply across the BPM community and by all who had the privilege of working alongside him.

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer first joined IDS Scheer GmbH in 1990 as a consultant and distinguished himself quickly. Within six years, he became President of IDS Scheer North America, and in 2001, at the age of 38, he accepted the role of CEO of IDS Scheer Japan, relocating to Tokyo to lead a full operational turnaround, guiding the subsidiary from loss to break-even before continuing to guide its expansion remotely for years after.

He then became CEO of IDS Scheer Americas, where he oversaw remarkable growth, expanding the software business four times its original scale, and building the organization from fewer than 30 employees to a team of more than 250. In 2006, he was appointed Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer of IDS Scheer Global, a role through which he channeled his passion for knowledge-sharing and cross-border collaboration, designing and launching an innovation network that spanned nine universities across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer during his earlier
leadership roles at Scheer IDS.

Peter Franz and Dr. Mathias Kirchmer.

In 2007, Dr. Kirchmer joined Accenture as Managing Director and Global Lead for Business Process Management. Under his leadership, Accenture built the world's largest process reference repository, an extraordinary body of work comprising more than 51,000 models across 73 industries, accessed upwards of 25,000 times per month by consulting teams around the globe to support sales and delivery at the highest level.

In 2013, Dr. Mathias Kirchmer joined forces with his colleague and close friend Peter Franz, who passed away in 2025, and founded BPM-D, a boutique consulting company dedicated to delivering disciplined, value-driven Business Process Management. Under his leadership, BPM-D was recognized by CIO Review as one of the 20 emerging enterprise architecture solution providers to watch, and by InsightsSuccess as one of the 50 most valuable tech start-ups in the United States. In 2023, he brought the US-based BPM-D into the Scheer Group, where it became Scheer Americas; a homecoming of sorts, back to the organizational family where his career had begun. He served as Managing Director of Scheer Americas from that point forward, until his passing.

Dr. Mathias was educated with the same international breadth that would define his professional life. He earned a Master of Science, a Master of Applied Economics, and a doctorate in Information Systems. He completed his PhD while working full-time, a reflection of the discipline and drive that his colleagues would recognize throughout his career.

For more than 20 years, Dr. Mathias Kirchmer served as affiliated faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and Widener University of Pennsylvania, shaping the next generation of practitioners and scholars. He was a guest professor at the Universidad de Chile and received a research and teaching fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He published 11 books and more than 150 articles.

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer sharing his expertise.

Outside of the boardroom and the classroom, Dr. Mathias was a devoted fan of jazz and a deep admirer of pop art, among the artists he most admired was James Rizzi. He could speak four languages: German, English, Spanish, and French. Mathias had well-known passion for food and fine dining; colleagues fondly recall that he seemed to personally know the chef at nearly every restaurant he walked into.

But perhaps what defined him most was his gift for people. He mentored countless colleagues over the course of his career, quietly shaping professional paths that might have looked very different without him. At his 60th birthday celebration, surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues from across his life, he gave a speech in which he mentioned every single person in the room by name — because to Mathias, every relationship was a personal one.

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer with Scheer Americas colleagues at his 60th birthday party.

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer leaves behind a legacy that stretches far beyond any single organization. It is one built over decades of intellectual curiosity, generosity of knowledge, dedication, and enduring partnerships. He is survived by his wife Monica, family in Germany, and dog, Caluga, who he walked every morning.

Dr. Mathias Kirchmer and Prof. Dr. August-Wilhelm Scheer.

“Our company and I have lost a highly esteemed manager and friend who played a pivotal role in the Scheer companies' history from the outset. During his time in the USA in particular, Mathias Kirchmer opened up new markets for IDS Scheer AG and established our good reputation in the country. With the acquisition of BPM-Discipline US LLC in 2023 – now known as Scheer IDS Americas - we intended to continue along this path. We will cherish his memory and continue the work he began in the USA with the same commitment and passion that he exemplified.” – Prof. Dr. August-Wilhelm Scheer

“I first met him more than 20 years ago at an SAP Sapphire Conference. We struck up a conversation, discovered he was from the Philadelphia area, and I invited him to speak to my classes—he immediately said yes. Over the years, he hired many of our students as both interns and full-time employees. He was a founding board member, alongside us, of the ABPMP Philadelphia chapter, and he also served on both the Business Analytics Advisory Board and the School of Business Advisory Board. Together, we organized the BPM conference at Widener and collaborated on numerous research efforts. He was a true champion for Widener—always compassionate, always brilliant. He will be deeply missed.” – Yvonne Lederer Antonucci, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, School of Business, Widener University

“He completely changed my career and hired me for a dream job with a dream boss. And the best thing is, if you're reading this and you knew Mathias, chances are he probably mentored you and changed your career too because that's just the type of person he was.” – Stephanie La Cava, Senior Consultant at Scheer Americas