Who We Are
Because we are you.
The leaders at Newtide have a combined 75 + years of leadership and expertise in the fuels and convenience retail industry. For decades, they have been building teams and developing software around the world, both for their own companies and as development service providers for many others.
Our leaders are the innovators, entrepreneurs and technologists who are helping to shape the industry’s future.
Doug Haugh
Chairman and Founder
Doug Haugh is an accomplished energy and technology executive, entrepreneur, and board director with more than 30 years of leadership experience. He has built, led, and scaled businesses across the energy and technology sectors, with a proven track record of innovation, strategic growth, and successful exits.
Doug previously served as President of Parkland USA and Mansfield Oil and was a founder of FuelQuest and Ceremity. He currently serves as Chairman of NewTide AI and Chairman of TRUX. His previous board experience includes Ergon, BioBlend, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), and the Fuels Institute.
Doug combines operational leadership, entrepreneurial experience, and strategic vision with a focus on leveraging technology and innovation to transform traditional industries.
Vlad Collak
CEO and Founder
Vlad Collak is an accomplished technology executive, entrepreneur, and software innovator with extensive experience building and scaling enterprise technology businesses. His expertise spans artificial intelligence, enterprise software, and digital transformation, with a strong track record of developing innovative solutions for complex industries.
Vlad previously served as Vice President of Engineering at PDI Technologies and was co-founder and CEO of Ceremity, an energy technology company acquired by PDI in 2018. He also founded Talentr Solutions, an AI innovation company acquired by NewTide AI in 2024. Earlier in his career, Vlad was among the first employees of FuelQuest.
As CEO of NewTide AI, Vlad combines deep technical expertise, entrepreneurial leadership, and industry knowledge to advance the adoption of artificial intelligence and intelligent automation across traditional industries.
Brandon Huff
Chief Product Officer and Founder
Brandon Huff has built his career at the intersection of technology, data, and business innovation, with a proven track record of founding, scaling, and successfully exiting technology companies. His experience spans artificial intelligence, enterprise software, and energy technology, combining entrepreneurial leadership with senior executive roles at eBay and Yahoo.
Brandon previously served as Senior Vice President of Fuel and Data Products and President of Global Operations at Titan Cloud Software. Prior to that, he was co-founder and CEO of TrueFill, leading the company through its successful exit to Titan Cloud, and served as CEO and Chairman of SiteFuel.
At NewTide AI, Brandon leads finance, legal, and corporate development, bringing extensive experience in business strategy, technology commercialization, and organizational growth to support the company’s continued expansion.
Why we’re
different.
Our purpose is to advance humanity through intelligent design. Within five years, we envision a digital assistant for every employee in your organization. It truly is the tide that will lift all boats.
So this is more than the latest software. This is a seismic shift in how we operate our fuels and convenience store businesses. Think of every role, equipped with the smartest, best subject matter expert, grounded in your company’s specific culture, policies, and secret sauce. Working 24/7 for you, enabling you to achieve higher value and higher impact.
The human side of AI is just as important to us as the AI itself. The cultural aspect of integrating digital assistants into an organization is profound. It requires a whole new way of thinking. These digital assistants need to be onboarded, well…just like human employees. We’ll guide your organization through the change management and new business processes of using AI within your company.
Locations
Charleston, SC
Pune, India
Kosice, Slovakia
Ostrava, Czech Republic
What
We Value
Our leadership and engineering principles both ground us and inspire us.
We are customer obsessed and execute quickly and well. Our speed of learning and execution uniquely set us apart.
Leadership
Principles
Obsess over customers
- Focus on long term customer value and not the tech
- Be customer obsessed; not competitor obsessed. Start with the customer in mind and work backwards with products and tech.
Build a top-notch team
- Raise the bar with every new hire.
- Create long-term incentives for employees.
Focus On Execution
- Optimize for speed of learning and execution.
- Create a ‘rhythmic’ business.
- Set long-term and short-term SMART goals and drive towards them at a neck-breaking speed.
- Track metrics to measure goals.
- Decide on what matters and focus on it.
- Implement ‘single-threaded leadership’. An initiative will not be successful unless there is a leader and a dedicated team to focus on that initiative. Don’t focus on too many things all at once.
Engineering
Principles
Speed
Deliver Value Fast.
We prioritize rapid iteration, fast deployment, and early impact over perfection
Flexibility
Build for Change.
We design with adaptability in mind. Our systems and architecture must allow us to change direction, swap technologies, and evolve with the market—without costly rewrites or lock-in. Flexibility is our hedge against uncertainty.
Learning
Evolve Relentlessly
We treat learning as a core capability. We constantly absorb new technologies, patterns, and ideas—but we apply them with discipline. Progress comes from smart adoption, not from chasing hype.