Sage appoints Steve Hare as CEO to drive business strategy forward

Sage has promoted financial expert Steve Hare to the position of CEO, following a successful run as CFO and most recently, interim COO.

Although Sage's finances lately haven't been as rosy as in previous years, Hare had managed to scrape back some cash over the last few years in the role.

He's now replacing Stephen Kelly, who was forced to step down earlier this year, following some rather unimpressive half-year results.

“I am delighted Steve has agreed to lead Sage on the next stage of its journey to become a great SaaS business,” Donald Brydon, Sage chairman, said. “He has impressed the Board with the momentum, focus and clarity he has brought to the organisation over the last few months as COO but also throughout his tenure as CFO.

“As we looked externally for the experience, vision and deep knowledge required to accelerate operational execution it very quickly became clear through Steve’s early decisions and his clear prioritisation that he is the right person to lead Sage.”

Before joining Sage in 2014, Hare worked at investment firm Apax as a partner and previously, CFO at Invensys, Spectris and GEC/Marconi.

“It is an honour to be asked to lead Sage as CEO, “ Hare commented. “I continue to believe that by putting our customers, our people and innovation at the heart of everything we do, we will succeed in our journey to becoming a great SaaS business.”

Until Sage finds a replacement for CFO, Hare will continue to run the company as both CEO and CFO, with his non-board member team taking on more day-to-day financial tasks to support him.