Board of directors

Chair

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

Previously, Andrew served as chair of Severn Trent plc from 2010 to 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 ten years of experience leading the finance function for three listed UK companies, ultimately with the title of chief financial officer from 2006 to 2009 for the FTSE 100 company Invensys plc, a global technology-related business. Between 2004 and 2006, he was group finance director for Spectris plc, the FTSE 250 precision instrumentation and controls company. From 1997 to 2003 he was with Marconi PLC, acting as chief financial officer in 2001.

Steve became a chartered accountant in 1985 with Ernst & Whinney, now part of Ernst & Young, and he holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Liverpool University.

You can follow Steve on @SteveHare

Chief Financial Officer

Jonathan joined the Board as an independent non-executive director on May 15, 2013, and served as chair of the Audit and Risk Committee from November 2013 to December 2018. He was subsequently appointed as our chief financial officer on December 10, 2018, having stepped down from his position as group finance director of Close Brothers Group plc, which he had held for ten years. Prior to that, he held the same position at the London Stock Exchange Group plc starting in 1999. He has also been a non-executive director of EMAP plc and chairman of FTSE International. The early part of Jonathan’s career was at PwC where he qualified as a chartered accountant. He was officially appointed as a non-executive director to the board of Experian plc on May 1, 2021.

Independent Non-Executive Director

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

She has extensive operating experience in transforming complex product portfolios and go-to-market to capture the cloud opportunity. She also has 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, private equity-owned, and startup companies. She has served as the 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), as well as vice president for Cisco Systems. Sangeeta holds MBAs from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as well as the Symbiosis Institute of Management at Pune, India.

Independent Non-Executive Director

John joined the board on May 31, 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 the co-founder, president and chief technology officer of Apama (now part of Software AG). He drove the evolution of digital business platforms while serving as executive vice president of corporate strategy and chief technology officer at NASDAQ-listed Progress Software, and prior to that, as head of industry solutions and chief marketing officer at Frankfurt-listed Software AG and as chief executive officer of Terracotta, Inc., a subsidiary of Software AG. As the chief executive officer at Plat.One (acquired by SAP in 2016), he drove the commercial development of platforms to support Internet of Things (IoT) applications. John was also chief executive officer of the Eggplant Group, part of Keysight Technologies Inc., which specializes 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 was appointed to the Board on April 1, 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, having spent 25 years in investment banking at 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

Maggie joined the board on December 1, 2022. Maggie has in-depth international marketing and brand experience that she has gained from her time spent at some of the world’s largest technology companies. She was SAP's first woman chief marketing officer, responsible for driving the software provider's global marketing efforts across more than 180 countries. In this role, she led SAP’s brand transformation effort, which led to the company being recognized as one of the world’s most valuable brands.

Maggie is recognized as an industry thought leader in the marketing and technology sector and was previously named one of the "Most Influential CMOs" in the world by Forbes. Maggie is the founder and CEO of Tenshey, a tech-enabled executive coaching company that helps women advance into leadership roles within the company as well as the boardroom. Maggie was previously a non-executive director of Avast plc and is currently a non-executive board advisor to Open Systems AG.

Independent non-executive director

Annette Court was appointed to the board on April 1, 2019, and is chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and Nomination Committee. She was appointed as chair of WH Smith PLC on 1 December 2022, having joined the WH Smith PLC board on September 1, 2022, as a non-executive director and chair designate.

Previously, Annette was a board member of Admiral Group from 2012, becoming chair in 2017 until April 2023. Between 2013 and 2017, Annette was a non-executive director of Foxtons Group plc. Her other prior positions include chief executive officer at the Direct Line Group (formerly known as RBS Insurance) as well as with Europe General Insurance for Zurich Financial Services. She has previously held the senior independent director position of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group in addition to being a board member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Independent Non-Executive Director

Roisin joined the board on February 3, 2023. Roisin brings extensive marketing, branding, and customer experience to the board, which she gained during her long executive career at Procter & Gamble. Her background includes extensive knowledge of digital transformation and data, as well as significant experience in developing board-level ESG strategies.

She also brings practical board and committee experience to the role. She previously served as a non-executive director of Just Eat plc, HomeServe Limited, and two privately held companies: Holland and Barrett Limited and Bourne Leisure Limited. Roisin is currently a non-executive director of NatWest Group plc and Premier Foods plc.

Independent non-executive director

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

Independent non-executive director

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

Since March 2019, Derek has been the chief financial officer at Spectris plc. He 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 positions within strategy, investor relations and mergers & acquisitions. Derek qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC.