Stephen Kelly appointed as the new Chair of Tech Nation

Tech Nation today announced that Stephen Kelly has been appointed as its new Chair, succeeding Eileen Burbidge, who has been in the role for the past five years. She helped the Tech Nation team to engage nearly 2000 businesses across Britain, generating up to £436 million in GVA for the UK economy.  Stephen Kelly brings entrepreneurial scaleup achievements – having grown and floated a silicon valley start-up on the NASDAQ – and extensive chairing and non-executive experience to the role. He will play a key role liaising directly with community representatives and tech entrepreneurs, as well as supporting Chief Executive, Gerard Grech.

“I’m really thrilled to be joining Tech Nation. Throughout my career I’ve worked with scaling tech companies of all sizes, in both the UK and the US, managing and mentoring expanding technology businesses. I know the challenges well. I’ve been privileged to start and lead some fantastic technology companies and currently sit on the boards of two fast scaling tech companies, including one Future Fifty alumni. I’ve seen what it takes to build great teams and cultures whilst managing exponential growth.

Of course, I do recognise that in the current, difficult time, the context is different, and many businesses are rapidly dealing with revenue softness. Many of the companies where I mentor have reset their plans to extend their cash runway. This agility works both ways and growth will follow – there’s no doubt this can be a technology-led recovery from recession. I intend to play a full role in supporting Gerard and the team in delivering that growth and ensuring prosperity across the UK.

I’ve also seen the benefits a government can reap from well executed technology projects. As Chief Operating Officer for the UK Government, I was overseeing the consolidation of the Government’s vast web complexity (132,000 URLs) into the single gateway of GOV.UK and enabling Government to put UK citizens at its heart. I know the structural challenges in dealing with government, but I know how they can be overcome and the resulting velocity and quality.

In my first weeks in the role as Chair, I look forward to speaking with as many Founders and Leadership Team members as I can, working to help UK tech innovators scale as sustainably and rapidly as possible. In business, entrepreneurs are always looking for the next opportunity, customer or investor and I want to be part of those conversations as we work at Tech Nation to build a truly national network to support your business.”

About Stephen Kelly

Stephen Kelly has 35 years’ leadership experience in both the private and public sector. He started his career as an accountant, working for the now-defunct British tech firm, ICL, for four years. In 1988, he joined American multinational computer technology corporation, Oracle as an executive of the European management team. After nine years at Oracle, he joined Californian enterprise software start-up, Chordiant, becoming chief executive officer in 2001.

He returned to the UK in 2006 to become chief executive officer of FTSE software firm Micro Focus International. In 2011 he joined the UK Government, and was made chief operating officer and head of the Efficiency and Reform Group in 2012 under cabinet office minister, Francis Maude. He left his role with the Government in November 2014 to join FTSE 100 multinational enterprise software company, Sage Group, where he was Sage’s first externally appointed CEO. During his time as CEO, Sage has acquired North American cloud-based financial software company Intacct in 2017 for $850m, and Fairsail, a British provider of cloud-based human resources software. Stephen stepped down as director and CEO of Sage Group on 31 August 2018.

On 1st June 2020, Kelly was appointed as Chair of Tech Nation, the British growth platform for tech companies.