Rich Preece has left Intuit after a 17-year tenure. His final role was as senior vice president and head of customer success for the small business and self-employed group; his first was as marketing manager for ProSeries.

Neither Preece nor his new employer have announced where he will be going yet, although Preece did say on Twitter that it is a pre-IPO company, a first for him.

“It’s a well established pre-IPO,” he wrote on the social media platform. “I’ve always been with public companies so this is about the challenge for me and pushing myself!”

The official announcement from Preece’s new professional home will be made on Dec. 2.

Preece has been a key component in Intuit’s growth of new accounting products, most recently for small businesses and the self employed. During his tenure as head of the accounting segment, Preece was a trusted go-between for accountants and the software giant.

This year, Preece worked hard to shape a positive image for Intuit’s new experiment in delivering bookkeeping services to small businesses, QuickBooks Live. He leaves the product positioned well for success — Intuit reports strong interest from both clients and ProAdvisors, in no small part as a result of Preece’s early response to uneasy feedback from the QuickBooks Accountant Community.

Intuit’s small business and self-employed group is in the capable hands of Alex Chriss, executive vice president and general manager. The company has not announced a replacement for Preece.