Board of directors

Chair

Andrew joined the board on 1 May 2021 as an independent non-executive director and became chair on 1 October 2021. He is also chair of the Nomination Committee.

Previously, Andrew served as chair of Severn Trent plc from 2010 until 2020 where he also chaired the Nomination Committee and was a member of Corporate Responsibility and Remuneration Committees. More recently, he chaired Elementis plc and its Nomination Committee from 2014 to 2021. Andrew was a senior independent director and chair of the Remuneration Committee at Wolseley plc between 2004 and 2013. From 2003 until 2009, he served as chief executive officer of npower, leading its transformation following its demerger from National Power in 2000. Currently, Andrew is a non-executive director of UK Government Investments Ltd.

Andrew holds a BSc (Honours) degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a fellow of the Energy Institute.

Chief executive officer

Steve joined Sage in January 2014, having previously been 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 15 May 2013 and served as chair of the Audit and Risk Committee from November 2013 until December 2018. He was subsequently appointed as our chief financial officer on 10 December 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 non-executive director to the board of Experian plc with effect from 1 May 2021.

Independent non-executive director

Sangeeta joined the board on 1 May 2020, and she is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Sangeeta has deep operating experience in transforming complex product portfolios and go-to-market to capture the cloud opportunity as well as strong technology and business experience including cybersecurity, cloud, enterprise software, SaaS and application services.

She is a Silicon Valley-based senior software technology leader with extensive experience in leading P&L and growth across a range of public, PE-owned and startup companies including having served as chief marketing officer of Alkira Inc (disruptive SaaS networking startup), senior vice president of F5 Networks Inc (Listed on NASDAQ), general manager and corporate vice president of SafeNet (part of Thales Group) and vice president of Cisco Systems. Sangeeta holds MBAs from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and the Symbiosis Institute of Management at Pune, India.

Independent non-executive director

John joined the board on 31 May 2019 and is a member of the Nomination Committee and Remuneration Committee. He is currently the chief executive officer of the SER Group Holding GmbH.

Previously John pioneered the space of streaming analytics as co-founder, president and chief technology officer of Apama (now part of Software AG). He drove the evolution of platforms for digital business, while serving as executive vice president of corporate strategy and chief technology officer at NASDAQ-listed Progress Software, head of industry solutions and chief marketing officer at Frankfurt-listed Software AG and chief executive officer of Terracotta, Inc. (a subsidiary of Software AG). As chief executive officer at Plat.One (acquired by SAP in 2016) he drove the commercial development of platforms to support internet of things applications. John was also chief executive officer of the Eggplant Group, part of Keysight Technologies Inc., which specialises in AI-powered software test automation.

John holds a doctorate in computer science from Cambridge University and is the author of the book "Thingalytics: Smart Big Data Analytics for the Internet of Things”.

Independent non-executive director

Jonathan Bewes was appointed to the Board on 1 April 2019 and is chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. Since April 2017, he has been vice-chairman, corporate and institutional banking at Standard Chartered Bank. Jonathan was appointed senior independent director of Next plc in May 2021, where he also serves as an independent non-executive director and chair of its Audit Committee. 

Jonathan qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG and spent 25 years in investment banking, with Robert Fleming, UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As a senior banker, he provided advice to the boards of many UK and overseas companies on a wide range of financial, strategic and governance issues. Jonathan is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Independent non-executive director

Annette Court was appointed to the board on 1 April 2019 and is chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. She has been chair of Admiral Group since 2017 and a board member since 2012. She became a non-executive director and Chair Designate of WH Smith PLC on 1 September 2022.

Between 2013 and 2017, Annette was a non-executive director of Foxtons Group plc. Her prior roles also include chief executive officer of the Direct Line Group (formerly known as RBS Insurance) and Europe General Insurance for Zurich Financial Services, senior independent director of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group and a member on the board of the Association of British Insurers (ABI). 

Independent non-executive director

Drummond joined the board on 1 January 2014 and is a member of the Remuneration, Audit and Risk, and Nomination Committees. Previously, he was the senior independent director of WH Smith plc and FirstGroup plc, a non-executive director then chair of Mitchells & Butlers plc and chief executive officer of Dairy Crest Group plc. The majority of Drummond’s career prior to this was spent with Procter and Gamble, Mars and PepsiCo.

Independent non-executive director

Derek Harding was appointed to the board on 2 March 2021 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Since March 2019, Derek has been the chief financial officer at Spectris plc, and has held several senior financial leadership roles during his career including chief financial officer at Senior plc, group finance director at Shop Direct and finance director of Wolseley UK. He also has broad experience across a range of commercially focused financial and operational roles including strategy, investor relations, and mergers & acquisitions. Derek qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC.