Stephen Hare (born April 1961) is a British businessman and the chief executive of the 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 its individual users. Enterprise software is an integral part of a computer-based information ...

company

Sage Group The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational enterprise software company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest ...

Early life

Hare was born in

Withernsea Withernsea is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Its white inland lighthouse, rising around above Hull Road, now houses a museum to 1950s actress Kay Kendall, wh ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

in 1961 and when he was six the family moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. At age 11 they returned to the UK and Hare attended a boarding school in

Pocklington Pocklington () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, its population was 10,123. It lies east of York, and ...

School, Yorkshire. Hare studied economics and accountancy at

Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...

, and afterwards he joined the auditing firm

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

Career

Hare joined

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...

in 1989 and had a number of roles eventually becoming chief financial officer (CFO) of its successor, Marconi plc. After leaving Marconi, Hare took up CFO roles at Spectris plc from 2005 to 2006 and

Invensys Invensys Limited was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. At its height, the company had offices in more than 50 countries and its products were sold in around 180 countries. I ...

from 2006 to 2009. Hare then became a partner at

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of March 2024, the firm had raised and adv ...

from 2009 to 2013. In 2014 Hare joined

as CFO. During his time as CFO, Sage made its biggest acquisition, Intacct, in July 2017 for $850 million. On 31 August 2018, Sage announced that the board and the then current Sage CEO, Stephen Kelly, had come to an agreement and that Kelly had stepped down as a director and CEO. Immediately following Kelly's departure Hare was appointed chief operating officer on an interim basis. On 2 November 2018 Steve Hare was appointed CEO on a full-time basis. In a 2020 poll

Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies, operated by the company of the same name. In 2018, the company was acquired by the Japanese company Recruit Holdings (owner of Indeed) for US$1. ...

named Hare the UK's number 1 CEO during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 3 April 2025,

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

announced that they were appointing Hare to their board as a non-executive director from 3 July.

Personal life

Hare lives near

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, England. He is married.

References

External links

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Sage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hare, Steve Living people 1961 births Alumni of the University of Liverpool Businesspeople from the East Riding of Yorkshire People educated at Pocklington School People from Withernsea Sage Group people