Bentley Systems has announced that effective 1 July 2024, Greg Bentley will transition from the company’s CEO to executive chair of its board of directors. Nicholas Cumins, currently COO, will then be promoted to CEO, and be proposed to join the board of directors.
Based in France, Mr Cumins has served as Bentley Systems’ COO since January 2022. He joined Bentley Systems as chief product officer in September 2020 prior to the company’s IPO. Previously he was general manager of SAP Marketing Cloud and served as chief product officer of Scytl, a platform for online voting, and as senior vice president of product with OpenX, a pioneer in programmatic advertising. Before OpenX, he had already served in a variety of senior roles at SAP, including product management, corporate strategy, and business development.
Mr Cumins said, “This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Bentley Systems, at its essence a company of engineers for engineers. Remarkably, the company has been founder- and family-led throughout those four decades. Greg has presided over an extraordinary legacy of long-term growth, sustained innovation, and value creation inspired by a commitment to advancing the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life.
“Greg has had a profound influence on the lives and careers of Bentley colleagues, and, together with them, on infrastructure engineers worldwide, taking pride in their work and what Bentley software enables them to accomplish. His entrepreneurial spirit is deeply embedded in the company’s culture and values. I am honoured to have been selected to follow in his footsteps, and I represent the Bentley leadership team when I say we are confident in our readiness and growth mindset for the coming decades.”
Mr Bentley has served as the company’s CEO since 1995. On this latest transition plan, he said, “I am very pleased to be able to retire from CEO responsibilities this year (at age 69) with such confidence that this completion of our extended succession process now leaves Bentley Systems demonstrably able to increase its potential, while safeguarding its established performance. Under Nicholas Cumins as COO since January 2022 (and chief product officer previously), both our ARR growth and operating margins have consistently improved to the highest levels in our just-now 40-year history.
“And vitally, over the three-plus years since BSY’s IPO and the expected retirement wave that enabled, we fully reinvigorated our executive leadership with a high-functioning cadre that, while 20 years younger, benefits from valuable public-company experience and is already reaching its collaborative stride.”
“Most significantly, our board determined Nicholas to be the ideal CEO for our future by virtue of the continuity he respects and personifies in our ‘family values’ of dedication to the success of our colleagues and thence the success of our users and accounts,” added Mr Bentley. “Equally, I am personally excited by the resolve and zeal of Nicholas and this next generation of leaders for technical and commercial innovation within our sustained mission.
“I am looking forward to contributing as executive chair, foreseeably. Beyond supporting Nicholas behind the scenes in the functions naturally new to him, I will remain responsible for overall capital allocation, such as potential platform acquisitions. And by choice I will continue to regularly interact with our investment constituencies, with whom I have found particular affinity. Here’s to Bentley Systems’ next 40 years!”
