Henk Kriek is a financial executive and academic leader with more than three decades of experience across higher education, research institutions, and large-scale fiscal operations. His career spans South Africa and Saudi Arabia, covering financial management, procurement, pension fund oversight, investment management, endowments, and institutional governance. He is also a published author in financial management. He has returned to KAUST as Interim Vice President and Chief Financial Officer while an international search takes place.

He began at KPMG, then joined the University of Johannesburg in 1992, moving from Senior Lecturer to Associate Professor and, by 1996, Professor in Financial Management. He led two faculties as Dean, Economic and Management Sciences in 2005 and Economic and Financial Sciences in 2006. From June 2006 to March 2013 he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Finance at the university, managing multi-billion-dollar budgets, negotiating international agreements, and building sustainable financial frameworks.

In April 2013 he moved to Saudi Arabia as Chief Financial Officer at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a post he held until December 2019. He was Honorary Professor at Stellenbosch University from 2020 to 2024. In November 2023 he became Vice Chancellor of Fiscal Affairs for the NEOM Education Research and Innovation Sector, leading its financial strategy and governance until December 2025.