Acwa, the world's largest private water desalination company and a Saudi-listed global energy transition operator, has appointed Dr. Samir J. Serhan as Chief Executive Officer, effective March 1, 2026. The appointment follows a structured succession process overseen by the company's Board Nomination and Remuneration Committee, with Marco Arcelli, who led the company since March 2023, remaining as an advisor to the Chairman to ensure continuity. The transition reflects what the board described as the natural progression of executive leadership terms within Acwa's disciplined governance framework.
Mohammad Abunayyan, Founder and Chairman of Acwa, said the appointment reflected confidence in Serhan's readiness to lead the company. Serhan joined Acwa in 2025 as President of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, overseeing operations across seven key markets including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, and Iraq. The board stated that his year-long tenure in the regional role, working closely with the leadership team, had fully prepared him for the expanded global responsibility. Arcelli, who will transition to an advisory capacity, oversaw significant expansion during his tenure; the company's portfolio doubled in size under his leadership, with the stated goal to double again by 2030.
Serhan brings more than three decades of global leadership experience in large-scale industrial and infrastructure organizations. Prior to joining Acwa, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Air Products, where he held global responsibility for operational business and project execution across the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India. He also led functions including technology, global engineering, manufacturing, and equipment. Earlier in his career, Serhan was president of Hydrogen at Praxair and held leadership positions at the Linde Group for 14 years in the United States and Germany, culminating as managing director of Linde Engineering. His extensive background in hydrogen and industrial gases directly aligns with Acwa's strategic pivot toward decarbonization solutions.
Acwa operates a diversified portfolio across 15 countries, generating 78.8 gigawatts of power capacity and producing 9.5 million cubic meters of desalinated water daily. The company now produces approximately 25 percent of the world's desalinated seawater. Operating segments span thermal and water desalination, renewables including photovoltaic and concentrated solar power plants, and emerging green hydrogen development. Arcelli's tenure saw the company expand into new markets including Azerbaijan, China, Kuwait, and Senegal while strengthening European partnerships for hydrogen and renewable exports. The company is listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange under ticker ACWA (2082) and is backed by the Public Investment Fund.
The appointment appears strategically timed to accelerate Acwa's green hydrogen expansion at a critical juncture. Just four months after Serhan's appointment as CEO, in July 2026, Acwa received government approval for an exclusive mandate to export green hydrogen and its derivatives from Saudi Arabia to global markets, a sovereign-backed framework that significantly raises the stakes of execution. The NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, a joint venture with Air Products, is nearing commercial operations in 2026 and will produce up to 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually. The Yanbu Green Hydrogen Hub, supported by German energy company EnBW, targets 2030 commercial operations. Serhan's operational experience managing complex capital-intensive infrastructure globally, combined with his deep expertise in hydrogen production and his recent regional stewardship, positions him to orchestrate what appears to be a deliberate shift in Acwa's strategic identity from a desalination and power producer toward a clean energy export platform serving Saudi Arabia's broader decarbonization and economic diversification goals under Vision 2030.
