I don't think his leaving is a terrible surprise in the usual course of acquisitions with the completion of Fairsail's integration into the parent. The announcement was posted by Kate Fletcher on the Sage People portion of the software company's website with the modest declaration that "He leaves the business poised for global domination as the market leader in HR/People systems for mid-size organizations." The company grew from 15 employees to 200 under Hale's tenure. On his blog, Hale said, "I'm thinking about working with several companies in board/advisory roles rather than another CEO role."