Nicholas Cumins took over as CEO of Bentley Systems, following the company’s previously announced transition plan, which for the first time in 40 years moved company leadership outside the Bentley family. Cumins succeeds Greg Bentley, the eldest of the five brothers that founded Bentley Systems. He will become executive chair of its board of directors.
The Bentley brothers strongly influenced what was then computer-aided design (CAD) software when they developed MicroStation as an engineering application platform. Four decades of innovation and more than 120 acquisitions later, Bentley Systems still provides infrastructure engineering software, with its infrastructure digital twin solutions used to design, build and operate critical infrastructure around the world.
The transition to Cumins’ leadership comes at a critical time for infrastructure sectors. There are not enough engineers to accomplish the work required to achieve global sustainability targets while also adapting aging infrastructure that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Cumins unveiled Bentley’s vision for infrastructure resilience, noting that engineering firms and asset owner-operators are looking to software to help them overcome the limitations of scarce talent.
“Infrastructure is at a watershed moment. Despite the massive capital investment in infrastructure projects and jobs post pandemic, so much more remains to be done to make infrastructure more resilient. Our ability to bridge that gap will literally determine the quality of life for generations to come. Fortunately, a paradigm shift in software is reshaping the landscape. AI-powered digital twin solutions are unlocking the value of data across the infrastructure lifecycle,” Cumins said.
For example, Bentley said its AI solutions are already transforming the way organizations are monitoring the health of roads, bridges, dams, water networks and telecommunications towers.
Before his promotion to CEO, Cumins served as Bentley Systems’ COO from 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. Cumins is a dual French and U.S. citizen and is based in France.
