In a channel email dated December 9, 2021, Sage COO Lee Perkins announced that Aziz Benmalek, presently the EVP Partners and Alliances, will serve as interim Managing Director for Sage North America upon the retirement of the present Managing Director Nancy Harris at the end of the calendar year 2021.
Harris had led Sage North America in a variety of roles since 2011 when she was leading the Canadian Simply Accounting business unit. In 2015 she was appointed to lead the entire Canadian region. In August 2016 Harris moved down to the United States to lead the Construction and Real Estate portfolio along with all North American Partner Programs.
On February 24, 2016, Sage appointed Marc Scheipe as the President of Sage North America. Scheipe stayed at Sage until 2017 when he departed and Sage then appointed Harris to the North American Managing Director role which she held until her upcoming retirement on December 31, 2021.
While at Sage Harris presided during times of significant change at the company. On August 31, 2018, Sage announced their global CEO Stephen Kelly was stepping down. Harris successfully oversaw the company’s response to the pandemic throughout 2020-2021.
Since Harris’s retirement had previously been announced in June 2021, it’s surprising to see it take Sage this long to announce a transition plan. We will have to see if Benmalek loses the interim role or whether Sage brings in a new Managing Director for their North America region.
North America is an importation region for Sage Group, comprising 39% of total organic revenues as reflected in the most recent 2021 annual report. The company to date has largely been guided by a group of executives from the Sage Group PLC headquarters with a group of Managing Directors overseeing their regional operations.
