Herman Nieuwoudt leads IFS's Energy & Resources business — driving strategy, growth, and market positioning across oil & gas and mining for one of the world's leading industrial AI and enterprise software companies. He is a rare combination of deep technical inventor and global commercial executive, with a career built at the intersection of technology, operational transformation, and large-scale P&L leadership. With more than two decades in the global energy sector, Herman has led businesses and built high-performance teams across the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and the Americas. He brings firsthand experience operating in the world's most complex and consequential energy markets — from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to frontier basins across West and East Africa — and understands what it takes to grow, compete, and deliver in environments where the stakes are measured in billions. Prior to IFS, Herman served as President of Seismic Solutions Group (a CMG company), where he led a business at the forefront of AI and high-performance computing applied to subsurface exploration. Before that, he spent over 20 years at Baker Hughes in a series of progressively senior leadership roles: Vice President for Saudi Arabia & Bahrain and Vice President for Africa. His career at Baker Hughes spanned the full value chain — from R&D and product development to field operations, regional P&L ownership, and large-scale commercial execution. Herman is a named inventor on multiple US and EU patents and has a track record of translating deep-domain expertise into commercial products that reshape how the industry operates. He is known for building organisations that combine technical excellence with commercial discipline — teams that don't just innovate, but ship.

He holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Petroleum Geology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and is based in Houston, Texas.