This morning we noticed a huge spike in search traffic centered around the name “Jodi Uecker-Rust”. Just as I was about to send out emails trying to see if there may be some personnel changes at Sage North America news broke that the President of Sage Business Solutions, Jodi Uecker-Rust has left the company for personal reasons.

So far as I can tell this news hadn’t leaked in advance of the announcement although we spotted search traffic picking up around Jodi’s name based on the post we’d done questioning why she was only an interim leader when she joined Sage back in February 2009.

Jodi is what could be termed a “heavy hitter” in the world of accounting software. She spent her career working first for Great Plains Software and ultimately Microsoft (who acquired Great Plains). For a period of time she was very widely considered to be the # 2 in command behind former Great Plains leader Doug Burgum. Jodi was a key player in the acquisition of Navision by Microsoft and even moved her family overseas for a period of time to oversee the deal. She retired early from Microsoft in 2004 to devote time to some non-profit organizations that she was involved in.

In an email sent to the channel by Paul Johnson, EVP Sage Business Solutions and Tom Miller, VP Channel Management – the departure is stated as for “personal reasons”. Both Tom and Paul go on to say that a replacement is expected to be named for Jodi in the near future.

Strangely the notice of such a key departure doesn’t come from Sue Swenson, CEO but rather from executives who reported to Jodi. I have an email into the folks at Sage Public Relations and will update this post as more information is available.

Update from Sage PR –

To get directly to your question, the message came from Paul and Tom because they have been the principal senior-level communication links to the business partner community so we felt that they were the appropriate ones to inform the partners in this case, too. I hope that helps to clarify.

Text of Jodi Uecker-Rust Departure Letter As President Sage Business Solutions – 10-5-2010:

Thank you for being a valued business partner and for your commitment to Sage.

I joined Sage for numerous reasons that were important to me…the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives, the exposure to new learning, and the challenge to grow both personally and professionally. Yet at the core of that decision was my knowledge that you, our dedicated partners, were indeed the cornerstone of our past and future success, and that Sage is fully committed to that partnership.

Over the past 20 years I have always believed and passionately supported the fact that you are the key to ensuring customer success. This week I will be departing Sage continuing to believe in you and your entrepreneurial spirit. Please know it is a bittersweet decision for me to leave Sage at this time when the momentum is clearly positive; but for personal reasons, it is the right time.

We are fortunate at Sage that we have “partners” in our blood, and I am confident in the knowledge that the Sage leadership team will continue to partner with you for long term success.

Thank you again for your commitment to Sage, congratulations on a successful year, and best wishes for an even brighter year ahead.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.