Just as soon to be chief executive of Sage North America Pascal Houillon enters his new role as head of Sage Business Solutions, the company confirmed it will be losing yet another top executive as Sage veteran Doug Meyer plans to depart on February 1.
Meyer held numerous key roles at Sage and Best Software before Sage acquired Best in 2004, most recently serving as chief customer officer, where he was responsible for developing a customer-centric culture at Sage. The company confirmed it does not have plans to fill the role in Meyer’s absence.
“We created a CCO role to ensure we built momentum across the company initially,” said a company spokesperson. “Doug has delivered the foundational work inside our businesses to unify our approach and now the business leaders that he’s been collaborating with will build on that work. We are not replacing his position and instead the business leaders are continuing the great momentum they’ve built with Doug.”
As for Meyer, he said he has no immediate plans other than to spend time with his family and contemplate his next move. In the meantime, Meyer said he thinks the company is moving in the right direction and will assist Sage until his departure.
“I’m working through a transition to ensure that Sage continues to have success driving our customer experience initiatives,” he said. “I plan to refresh for a few months after which I will begin looking at my next opportunity. And at this point, I really don’t know what that will entail. I leave Sage wishing the company nothing but the best and I believe the company is better positioned today than it has been in some years to compete and win in the next several years. I’ll miss the place, but it’s been a nice run for both the company and myself.”
Over the past three months, Sage has announced several top executive departures, the most recent of which being executive vice president of sales Paul Johnson, who left in December for a job as head of sales and marketing for Intuit Financial Services, which markets products through financial institutions.
Also, earlier in the month, Sage CEO Sue Swenson announced her retirement, passing the baton to Houillon, who will officially take over the role once Swenson departs around June. And in October, former SBS president Jodi Uecker-Rust entered retirement after less than two years with Sage.
