Stephen Kelly (businessman)

Stephen Paul Kelly (born 30 December 1961) is a British businessman, and the former chief executive officer of Sage Group.[3][4][5]

Stephen Kelly
Born (1961-12-30) 30 December 1961[1]
Kent, United Kingdom
OccupationBritish businessman
Spouse(s)Siobhan Kelly
Children3[2]

Early life

He was born in Kent, England and attended the Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone.[6] Kelly received a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Bath.[7]

Career

Kelly has 35 years’ leadership experience in both the private and public sector. He has held CEO positions with three UK & US public tech companies, as well as spending three years as COO of the UK Government.

He started his career as an accountant, working for the now-defunct British tech firm, ICL, for four years.[5][8] In 1988, he joined American multinational computer technology corporation, Oracle as an executive of the European management team.[7] After nine years at Oracle, he joined Californian enterprise software start-up, Chordiant. In 2001 he became chief executive officer, replacing Sam Spadafora.[5][9]

He returned to the UK in 2006 to become chief executive officer of FTSE software firm Micro Focus International.[6] In 2009, he announced he would step down as CEO of Micro Focus, citing personal reasons.[10]

In 2011 he joined the UK Government, and was made chief operating officer and head of the Efficiency and Reform Group in 2012 under cabinet office minister, Francis Maude.[11]

He left his role with the Government in November 2014 to join FTSE 100 multinational enterprise software company, Sage Group, where he was Sage's first externally appointed CEO.[12] During his time as CEO, Sage has acquired North American cloud-based financial software company Intacct in 2017 for $850m, and Fairsail, a British provider of cloud-based human resources software.[13][14]

In 2015, Kelly was appointed as one of six new Prime Minister's business ambassadors to help boost the UK’s performance in international trade.[15]

On 31 August 2018, Sage Group announced that Kelly would step down as a director and CEO following a crash in staff morale under his leadership,[3] and was succeeded by Steve Hare, CFO during Kelly's tenure at the company.

On 1st June 2020, Kelly was appointed as Chair of Tech Nation, the growth platform for tech companies and leaders, joining existing board members including Tech Nation CEO Gerard Grech, David Richards, founder and CEO of WANdisco, and Sarah Wood, co-founder of Unruly. [16]

Personal life

He is married with three daughters.[2]

References
  1. "Stephen Paul Kelly". Companies House. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  2. Armitstead, Louise (18 July 2011). "Stephen Kelly - the man at the coal face of the Big Society". Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  3. "The Sage Group plc (the Group) announces today that the Board and Stephen Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, have come to an agreement and Stephen has stepped down as a director and CEO". Sage Group. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  4. "Stephen P. Kelly: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  5. Bentley, Guy (6 August 2014). "Stephen Kelly announced as Sage CEO". City A.M. London. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  6. Duke, Simon (12 July 2015). "Dotcom survivor embarks on a great north run with Sage". The Times. London: News UK. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  7. Cave, Andrew (27 August 2016). "I want Sage to be about everything to do with moving money". Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  8. Fildes, Nick (23 May 2015). "Manifesto: The Jet's gone, but technology's high flyer is planning its latest attack from the cloud". The Times. London: News UK. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  9. "Chordiant Software Inc appoints Stephen Kelly as new President and Chief Operating Officer" (Press release). 27 November 2000. Retrieved 27 January 2018 – via Response Source.
  10. Stafford, Paul (9 September 2005). "Surprise at Micro Focus chief's exit". Financial Times. London: Nikkei. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  11. Syal, Ranjeev (6 August 2014). "Government chief operating officer Stephen Kelly resigns". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  12. Fildes, Nick (7 August 2014). "Sage raids civil service for chief executive". The Times. London: News UK. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  13. "Sage Group buys Intacct accounting software for $850M". TechCrunch. Oath. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  14. "Time to embrace the cloud on the horizon". The Times. London: News UK. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  15. "Prime Minister names new Business Ambassadors to support international trade and investment". Gov.co.uk (Press release). 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  16. "Introducing the new Chair of Tech Nation: Stephen Kelly". technation.io (Press release). 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
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