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Board of directors

The company and the group are committed to high standards of corporate governance. The board is accountable to the company's shareholders for good corporate governance.

Photo of Andrew Duff, chair

Andrew Duff

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 until 2020, where he also chaired the Nomination Committee and was a member of the 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.
Steve Hare, Chief executive officer

Steve Hare

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. 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

Jonathan Howell, Chief financial officer

Jonathan Howell

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 until 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.
Dr John Bates, Independent non-executive director

Dr. John Bates

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 and director and president of SER Group Inc.

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 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."

Photo of Jonathan Bewes

Jonathan Bewes

Independent non-executive director

Jonathan Bewes was appointed to the board on April 1, 2019, and is chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Nomination Committee. Since October 2016, Jonathan has served on the board of Next plc, and was appointed chair of the audit committee in May 2017, and senior independent director in May 2021. He was appointed non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee of the Court of the Bank of England on October 1, 2023. Jonathan was appointed as chair of MONY Group plc on January 1, 2025, having joined the MONY Group plc board on July 1, 2024, as independent non-executive director and chair designate.

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 and was vice-chairman, of corporate and institutional banking at Standard Chartered Bank between April 2017 and March 2023. 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.

Maggie Chan Jones

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. She is the founder and former CEO of Tenshey, a tech-enabled executive coaching company that helps women advance into leadership roles and the boardroom. Maggie was previously a non-executive director of Avast plc and is currently a non-executive board advisor to Ontinue. She was appointed as non-executive director and member of the nomination and responsible business committees of BT Group plc in March 2023. In January 2023, she was appointed director at large and more recently, vice president, lead for the Compensation Committee, and a member of the Budget Committee and Strategic Investment Committee of the US Tennis Association.

Photo of Annette Court

Annette Court

Independent non-executive director and senior independent director

Annette Court was appointed to the Board on April 1, 2019 and is a member of the Remuneration Committee, 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. Annette is also director of Admiral Europe Compañía de Seguros.

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

Roisin Donnelly

Independent non-executive director

Roisin joined the Board on February 3, 2023 and is chair of the Remuneration Committee. 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 and member of the Group Performance and Remuneration Committee and Group Sustainable Banking Committee of NatWest Group plc, a non-executive director and member of the Nomination Committee and Audit Committee of Premier Foods plc, and on the Board of Trustees of the British Heart Foundation.

Derek Harding

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.

Derek has served on the board of Spectris plc as chief financial officer since March 2019 and became president of Spectris Scientific on September 1, 2024. 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 roles, including strategy, investor relations, and mergers and acquisitions. Derek qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC.

 Lori Mitchell-Keller

Lori Mitchell-Keller

Independent non-executive director

Lori Mitchell-Keller was appointed to the Board on February 7, 2025. Lori is a board member of XTANT Medical Holdings Inc., a NYSE listed company, and Mitratech Holdings Inc. She holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a Master's degree in operations research from Stanford University, and a Bachelor's Degree in industrial engineering from Iowa State University.

Lori is a global technology leader and strategic advisor who has over 30 years of experience in scaling, differentiating, and advancing businesses through technology transformation. She has held a number of global executive leadership roles at Google Cloud, SAP, JDA Software, Manugistics Software, and Allegiance Healthcare, and has built a strong track record of spearheading industry-focused product solutions and growth strategies.