Sage Executive Leadership Team

Chief Executive Officer

Steve Hare joined Sage in January 2014, having previously served as Operating Partner and Co-Head of the Portfolio Support Group at the private equity firm Apax Partners, which he joined in 2009. Prior to this, Steve built over 10 years’ experience leading the finance function for three listed UK companies, culminating as Chief Financial Officer for FTSE 100 company Invensys plc, the global technology-related business, from 2006 to 2009. Between 2004 and 2006, he was group finance director for Spectris plc, the FTSE 250 precision instrumentation and controls company, and from 1997 to 2003 he was with Marconi PLC, acting as chief financial officer from 2001.

Steve qualified as a chartered accountant in 1985 with Ernst & Whinney, now part of EY, and holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Liverpool University.

You can follow Steve on Twitter @SteveHare.

 

Chief Financial Officer

Jonathan joined the board as an independent non-executive director on May 15, 2013, and served as Chairman of the Audit Committee from November 2013 until December 2018. He was subsequently appointed as our chief financial officer on December 10, 2018, having stepped down from his role as group finance director of Close Brothers Group plc which he held for 10 years. Prior to that, Jonathan held the same position at the London Stock Exchange Group plc since 1999. He has also been a non-executive director of EMAP plc and chair of FTSE International. The early part of Jonathan’s career was at PWC where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He has been appointed as a non-executive director to the board of Experian plc, taking effect May 1, 2021.

Chief Product Officer

Walid joined Sage in May 2021 and the Executive Committee of Sage in January 2022. He previously spent 20 years at Microsoft where he was corporate vice president, responsible for the developer and platform evangelism group, before joining ANSYS INC as chief product officer. Most recently he was Senior Vice President, Oracle Developer Tools. He also holds several senior board advisor roles in the technology sector and patents in the field of AI.­

Walid brings with him extensive industry experience and leadership skills. He is passionate about driving strategy and building a culture that delivers tangible, customer-centric solutions.

President, North America and EVP Partners & Alliances

As president North America, Aziz Benmalek leads our business across North America and is accountable for our commercial performance and operations in the US and Canada. He also leads our Partners and Alliances strategy globally. Aziz Benmalek joined Sage in December 2020, having previously spent two years as Vice President of Worldwide Partners, Business Development and Channel Chief at Splunk.

Prior to this, Aziz gained 20 years of experience at Microsoft in various roles, including Vice President of the SaaS, Cloud and Hosting Business Unit, leading the vision, strategy, sales, business development, technical enablement and marketing.

You can follow Aziz on Twitter @Aziz_Benmalek

President – EMEA

Derk Bleeker leads our business across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and is accountable for our commercial performance and operations in these regions. Derk joined Sage in 2014 and has held a number of commercial, finance, M&A and strategy leadership roles, most recently as our chief development and strategy officer.

Prior to Sage, Derk led European Corporate Development at Danaher and worked at HgCapital, a leading technology private equity fund.

You can follow Derk on Twitter @BleekerDerk.

General Counsel and Company Secretary

Vicki joined Sage in 2016 from former FTSE 250 software company, Misys (now Finastra), where she was Associate General Counsel. In her role at Misys, Vicki was responsible for M&A, litigation, risk, IP, and more.

After graduating from Nottingham University, Vicki qualified as a solicitor in the City of London. Vicki spent her early career working as a corporate lawyer in global and magic circle law firms. Later on she moved to working in-house with large multi-nationals and UK public limited companies, helping to grow and transform businesses while managing their regulatory and litigation risk. 

You can follow Vicki on Twitter @vickibradin.

Chief People Officer

Amanda Cusdin joined Sage in March 2015 and became chief people officer in September 2018.

As well as leading our global people function, Amanda has overall executive accountability for Sage’s Sustainability and Society strategy, which aims to knock down barriers by tackling digital and economic inequalities, and the climate crisis. 

Before joining Sage, she spent 18 years within a number of global FTSE organizations, where she worked across all aspects of human resources to drive change and transformation – with particular focus on M&A integration. She is passionate about developing talent and leadership, and creating truly inclusive organizations which promote diversity.

Amanda has a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Warwick and postgraduate qualifications in Human Resources Management. 

You can follow Amanda on Twitter @AmandaCusdinHR.

Chief Technology Officer

Responsible for Sage’s technology strategy and software architecture, Aaron Harris has more than 20 years of high-tech engineering experience in business applications and software development strategies.

Previously, a founding leader of Sage Intacct, which was acquired by Sage in 2017, Harris led the company's product vision and technology direction, establishing Sage Intacct as the innovation leader in cloud financial management solutions.

You can follow Aaron on Twitter @AaronRHarris

Chief Marketing Officer

Cath joined the Sage Board on July 1, 2017 as an independent non-executive director, and then served as a non-independent non-executive director from April 2020 to June 2020.

Cath was subsequently appointed Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for the global strategy and governance across all of Sage’s marketing– including brand, communications, events, digital channels, and marketing operations. She previously held several senior executive roles at BT Group, O2, and as Chairman of Tesco Mobile.  

Cath’s non-executive experience includes advisory roles at TalkTalk, Bupa, Funding Circle Holdings plc, and smaller companies, including Ustwo and Trusted House Sitters.

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer

Amy Lawson is responsible for corporate affairs at Sage, responsible for internal and external reputation and engagement. She sets the global communications strategy across PR, colleague communications, public affairs and analyst relations.

Previously, Amy was head of the Cabinet Office's media operations as a civil servant for Her Majesty’s Government. She was also Head of Communications for Channel 4 News, where she was responsible for protecting and promoting the reputation of the national news program, its journalism, and its presenters.

You can follow Amy on Twitter @amyllawson.