As Chair of the North East Council of the CBI, I worked closely with the outstanding Regional Director and local councillors to represent North East businesses in national conversations and to support and drive the policy agenda for the region.

Accountable for the day to day operations and commercial performance at Sage globally, including product and technology, GTM, sales operations, pricing, customer service, professional services, commercial operations, and procurement & property.

Took accountability for the global GTM engine and regional MD’s in addition to my CPO responsibilities, joining up the sales and product organisations.

Accountable for the redesign and leadership of the regional and global product and IT teams across Sage, focused on helping colleagues thrive and Small and Medium businesses to transform they way they think and work.

Took interim accountability for the global product delivery organisation in addition to the Global Diversified Portfolio role, specifically focused on product management, engineering and IT during the transition of of the former CPDO.

Responsible for developing and executing the global portfolio strategy, including notable disposals (e.g. Sage Brazil, Sage Pay) and portfolio shaping initiatives such as End of Service planning and Run for Cash programs.

Established in 2015, Tech North is a government-funded initiative delivered through Tech City UK. The specific goal of Tech North is to accelerate the development of the North’s digital economy through the promotion and support of digital entrepreneurship. Our remit is to attract talent, entrepreneurs and investment to the North of England specifically the seven cities of Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Sunderland.I serve as a member of the Tech North Advisory Board, engaging with businesses and communities across the north of England and supporting the development of digital skills and entrepreneurship.

At Sage we energise the success of businesses and their communities around the world through the use of smart technology and the imagination of our people.I am proud to lead Sage in the UK & Ireland, where 2,500 colleagues combine social, mobile and real-time technology to put live information at the fingertips of our customers, enabling them to make fast, informed decisions and to fulfil their potential.

The Start-up and Small Business Division (SSB) at Sage is responsible for the go to market strategy for micro and small businesses and for our relationships with over 830,000 customers in the UK and Ireland.Our team of 1,000 people in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Dublin design, build, market and support our market leading Accounting, Payroll and Pension propositions via market leading products including Sage One, Sage 50 and SageCover.