Darren Roos

Darren Roos (born November 8, 1974) is a South African born business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of IFS. Before joining IFS, Roos served as President of SAP ERP Cloud. Having joined IFS in April 2018, Roos has helped the enterprise software company to double in size and increase its market share.

Darren Roos was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Having attended New Forest High School in Durban, Roos initially studied law at the University of South Africa but did not complete the degree. He later studied business management at Damelin Business School and followed executive programs on international business at the Harvard Business School and at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is married to Melissa DiDonato, CEO of SUSE. They live in London with their children.

Roos worked for the startup Redflag Communications, before joining Dimension Data in 2001. He joined Software AG in 2005 as its Sales Manager for South Africa and in 2007 became its Country Manager for South Africa and the Middle East. In 2008, he was appointed Senior Vice President - Field Operations for Africa, Benelux, and the Nordic, and in July 2011, he was promoted to President EMEA, APJ, LATAM and appointed member of the Group Executive Board.

Joining SAP SE in January 2014, Roos served as its Chief Operating Officer for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, as well as its Managing Director for the United Kingdom and Ireland. The following year he was appointed General Manager Northern Europe and in October 2016 he was appointed President of SAP's global Cloud ERP offerings, which included S/4 HANA Cloud, BusinessByDesign, and BusinessOne.

In April 2018, he took over as CEO of IFS AB. During his tenure, IFS has seen rapid growth and expansion in the enterprise software company's product areas of field service management, enterprise asset management, and enterprise resource planning software. He also serves on the board of Sitecore and had been a non-executive director of Micro Focus from 2017 to 2019.

Since taking over, he has led IFS to achieve several key awards, which include European Business Awards 2019 for Digital Technology, IFS Great Place to Work – Legend Status 2019, Gartner’s 2020 Customers’ Choice Award for Enterprise Asset Management Software, and the 2020 5-Star Rating Award from CRN – The Channel Company for doubling its partner program. In October 2020, Roos was awarded the CEO of the Year - 2020 in the Tech Ascension Awards. Roos contributes regulary as an industry thought leader, having been invited to speak at events such as TEDx talk, where he spoke on the Digital World for the next generation.

Roos instigated the IFS Foundation, to assist rural villages in Sri Lanka by improving living conditions by addressing healthcare, sanitation, education, access to clean water, and rural poverty. He and his wife Melissa DiDonato, founded Inner Wings, a charitable foundation located in London, aimed at confidence-building and empowering girls and young women.