Former Sage CEO Stephen Kelly has joined the board of high-growth tech company Kimble Applications.
The professional services automation software firm announced the appointment of Kelly – the former CEO of the FTSE100’s only technology companies Sage and Micro Focus – as a non-executive director.
London-based Kimble Applications is expanding into the enterprise market and looking to increase its global footprint.
Last year it secured investment from Accel-KKR, a leading Silicon Valley technology-focused investment firm, and significantly ramped up international expansion with over 50 per cent of new customers added in the USA, opening offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta and moving into new headquarters in Boston and London.
Kimble was also named as one of the fastest-growing technology companies on the prestigious Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list for the second year running, and expanded its European team, hiring leaders in both the Central Europe and Benelux areas.
Kelly recently invested in Bristol company 3radical.
He helped double Sage’s market value while revenues tripled at Micro Focus in just three years under his leadership, increasing its market value more than six-fold. He has also served as chief operating officer for the UK government, with responsibility for technology and digitising public services.
“My focus is helping some of the UK’s most promising growth companies achieve their full potential on the global stage,” he said.
“I worked with Kimble’s CEO Sean Hoban as a business advisor and angel investor in the early days of Kimble’s spectacular growth.
“I am excited to renew our relationship and share my experiences to help Kimble in its next stage of growth and market leadership.”
Hoban said: “It is an honour and privilege to have Stephen joining our board. Few have achieved more in the technology industry or have Stephen’s experience managing large, multinational software businesses while consistently delivering growth and market leadership.
“Stephen is joining at an exciting time because his experience will help Kimble with our goals of international expansion and accelerating growth in the USA. We have the medium-term ambition to grow to over 500 enterprise customer advocates.
“Stephen brings experience in building strong, winning cultures, aligning colleague engagement with an obsession for customer success.
“His experience, oversight and guidance is exactly what Kimble needs as we solidify our position as the thought and marker leader in the PSA space.”