Herman Kriel

SALT System Engineer
Herman was born in Vereeniging in 1959 and grew up on a farm between Vereeniging and Heidelberg. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Pretoria and started his career in the power section of the then Department of Post and Telecommunication (Telkom today) where he was responsible for the power reticulation in buildings for various regions, as well as solar power systems for remote stations. His interest in control systems took him to the defense company Kentron where he worked on Infra Red Missile Systems, stabilized sites for rotary winged aircraft and eventually Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) cameras. He joined SALT since mid June 2005 as the System Engineer for the operational phase. He is currently busy putting the final touches to the dissertation for his Masters degree in Project Management. He loves the great outdoors and the feeling of being one with nature. The wide open spaces, the beauty and remoteness of the Karoo and the opportunity to be associated with a technologically advanced facility such as SALT was enough to tip the decision towards accepting this position.

Herman is married to a beautiful supportive woman, Betty Simpson, who had to make huge sacrifices in her career as freelance management consultant to enable him to take up this position, which gives new meaning to the old saying "Behind every man there is a woman ......."