Stephen Paul Kelly (born 30 December 1961) is a British businessman, and the former chief executive officer of

Sage Group The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company based in North Tyneside, England. As of 2017, it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest supplier of enterpri ...

Early life

He was born in

Kent, England Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

and attended the

Harvey Grammar School The Harvey Grammar School is located in Folkestone, Kent, England. It is a grammar school with academy status founded by the family of William Harvey in 1674. Admissions A selective school for boys only, the school has around 900 on its roll. ...

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

. Kelly received a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Business Administration from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. He went on to receive an honorary doctorate in Business Administration in 2016.

Career

Kelly has 35 years' leadership experience in both the private and public sectors. He has held CEO positions with three UK & US public tech companies, as well as spending three years as COO of the UK Government. Under his CEO stewardship, the companies increased their combined market value by approximately $10bn. He started his career in Technical Support, working for the now-defunct British tech firm, ICL, for four years. In 1988, he joined American multinational computer technology corporation,

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

as an executive of the European management team. After nine years at Oracle, he joined Californian enterprise software start-up, Chordiant which become a Fintech

Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

. In 2001 he became chief executive officer, replacing Sam Spadafora. Kelly attended and completed Stanford University Directors’ College - best in class company governance, control environment and integrity. He returned to the UK in 2006 to become chief executive officer of FTSE software firm

Micro Focus International Micro Focus International plc is a British multinational software and information technology business based in Newbury, Berkshire, England. The firm provides software and consultancy. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is ...

. In 2009, he announced he would step down as CEO of Micro Focus, citing personal reasons. Micro Focus was one of the FTSE250 best performing stocks during his tenure, rising seven-fold. In 2011 he joined the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

, and was made chief operating officer and head of the

Efficiency and Reform Group The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), established in 2010, was part of the Cabinet Office which worked in partnership with HM Treasury to form the corporate centre for UK Government. Its objectives were to reform the way government works and ...

in 2012 under cabinet office minister,

Francis Maude Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude, Baron Maude of Horsham, (born 4 July 1953) is a British Conservative Party politician and life peer who served as Minister of State for Trade and Investment from 2015 to 2016, having previously served as Minister ...

. During the coalition years, the Efficiency & Reform program delivered £50bn of savings and Stephen was commended by Margaret Hodge, chair of PAC. Flagship programs including the digitisation with Gov.UK won multiple awards. Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the Government Digital Service (GDS) as “one of the great unsung triumphs of the last parliament” in a speech (Friday 11 September 2015). In 2016, the UK was recognised by the UN and the world's best digital Government. Kelly joined the Cabinet Office Board amongst many Government Board roles and chaired the Government's Senior Information, Security & Risk Board. He left his role with the Government in November 2014 to join

FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

multinational

enterprise software Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, ...

company,

, where he was Sage's first externally appointed CEO. During his time as CEO, Sage's market value doubled to £8bn and the firm acquired North American cloud-based financial software company Intacct in 2017 for $850m, and Fairsail, a British provider of cloud-based human resources software. Sage cloud revenues grew from £2m in 2014 to £486m of annualised recurring revenues in 2018. Sage won innovation awards and launched the first AI and chatbot in the market. As part of the compassionate capitalism & social purpose mission, Kelly started the Sage Foundation, donating annually 75,000 days of volunteering time, technology & millions of pounds to philanthropic and charitable causes. Notable successes includes dramatically reducing youth homelessness in Newcastle and positively impacting domestic violence in South Africa. Kelly co-Chaired the Anglo-Brazil Trade Board (JETCO). 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 International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

. On 31 August 2018, Sage Group announced that Kelly would step down as a director and CEO and he was succeeded by Steve Hare, CFO during Kelly's tenure at the company. On 1 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 James Richards David James Richards (born 13 November 1970) is a British Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technology executive. He currently serves as the co-founder and CEO of WANdisco, an Anglo-American software company specialising in distributed computing. ...

, founder and CEO of

WANdisco WANdisco, plc., dually headquartered in Sheffield, England and San Ramon, California in the US, is a public software company specialized in the area of distributed computing. It has development offices in San Ramon, California; Sheffield, England ...

, and Sarah Wood, co-founder of Unruly and Jo Johnson, Lesley Eccles& Eric Collins He is an angel investor & mentor in many sustainability and women-led businesses as well as Chair of The Algorithm People. He was appointed Chair of the Science & Technology Honours Committee in December 2021. Stephen was voted ‘Mentor of the year at UK Enterprise Awards (2019)’. Also, he was invited to the No. 10 Innovation Fellowship Board in 2021.

Personal life

He is married with three daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Stephen 21st-century English businesspeople Alumni of the University of Bath English chief executives 1961 births Living people Sage Group people