Management Team

Paddy Padmanathan serves as the President and CEO of ACWA Power since 2007. He is a key member of ACWA Power’s executive leadership team, having spearheaded its expansion since 2005 when he joined the company as a Business Development Director. 

A seasoned engineering and energy expert with over 40 years of experience, Mr. Padmanathan helped ACWA Power go from strength to strength to become a company that today has a vast portfolio in various high-growth markets across three continents. At ACWA Power, he has guided the business strategy to deliver power and desalinated water reliably and responsibly at competitive rates. He is also steering ACWA Power’s leadership in energy transition, underpinned by a strong ESG framework, enabling it to be part of one of the largest renewable energy projects in the world. 

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Padmanathan served as the Vice President and Corporate Officer at Black and Veatch, a major global engineering and construction company, where he was responsible for developing privately financed power, water, and wastewater projects in over a dozen countries. 

Mr. Padmanathan holds a degree in engineering from the University of Manchester, a postgraduate qualification in Civil Engineering production from University of Lancaster and serves on the boards of several water and power companies.

Rajit Nanda joined the Group as Chief Financial Officer in 2009. In his current role, he is responsible for the performance of ACWA Power’s global portfolio which is spread across three continents. He ensures that ACWA Power runs the global portfolio with high innovation, best-in-class reliability of supply and operational excellence to produce optimised performance at low cost which translates to superior returns from projects through the lifecycle.

With more than 25 years of experience, Mr. Nanda has led the structuring and financing of ACWA Power’s independent water and power projects in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. He oversees the Group's growth and remains in charge of new business development, legal (projects), acquisitions and divestiture, and corporate and project finance. He also oversees the Group's expansion across MENA, Southern Africa and Asia and sits on the boards of several companies owned and operated by the Group. 

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Nanda was the Regional CFO for Engie's Middle East, Asia & Africa region. 

Mr. Nanda holds an MBA in Finance from Xavier Institute of Management, India.

Kashif Rana serves as the Chief Financial Officer of ACWA Power, having joined the Group as Director of Accounting, Controls and Taxation in 2009. His responsibilities include ensuring a 100 percent contracted business model with long-term purchase agreements with investment grade off-takers, generating stable long-term income whilst maintaining superior cash flows from the operations. 

With 20 years of experience in the power and water sector, Mr. Rana has successfully led operational finance activities for the Group and its investments in developing and implementing best practices around long-term planning, audits, accounting, reporting, insurance, corporate legal, treasury, and tax structuring, in addition to leading a private security offering with sovereign institutes of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Rana sits on the board of several companies owned and operated by ACWA Power. 

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Rana served as the CFO of AES Middle East.

Mr. Rana is a certified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. 

Julio Torre Gutierrez serves as the Chief Operations and Maintenance Officer for ACWA Power and as the President and Chief Executive Officer of First National Operations and Maintenance Company (NOMAC), a leading O&M provider that is 100 percent owned by ACWA Power. Mr. Torre Gutierrez has been part of the leadership team at ACWA Power since 2009.

A professional engineer with over 35 years of experience, Mr. Torre-Gutierrez has played a pivotal role in developing NOMAC as a key source of value creation for ACWA Power underpinned by highest operational and quality standards. This has been achieved through his concerted focus on developing a synergistic operating model that translates to high visibility and secure cash flows with low capital commitment. 

Prior to joining NOMAC, Mr. Torre Gutierrez was working with Duke Energy, a leading energy company focused on electric power and gas distribution operations in the Americas, most recently as Vice-President of Business Operations of the Latin American portfolio. 

Mr. Torre Gutierrez holds a degree in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University.

Yara Anabtawi serves as the Chief People, Culture and Communications Officer, having joined the Group in 2012. Yara is responsible for Human Capital, Organisational Health, Corporate Alignment and Integration and Marketing and Communications at ACWA Power.

Within ACWA Power, Ms. Anabtawi has a proven track-record in propelling profitable growth at managerial levels, developing and leading strategies. She is also responsible for directing teams and driving performance excellence within the organisation. 

With over 24 years of experience, Ms. Anabtawi has held various leadership roles covering a multitude of sectors including energy, investment banking, IT, automotive, education and healthcare in several geographies including the US, North Africa and the GCC.

Ms. Anabtawi sits on the board of several companies owned and operated by ACWA Power. 

Ms. Anabtawi holds a B.Sc in Management and Information Systems from Brigham Young University, a Master’s degree in Management and Information Systems from the Florida Institute of Technology and a Postgraduate Degree in Education from the University of Sunderland. She also holds a certificate in International Management from Thunderbird University. 

Guy Richelle is a Senior Advisor and a key member of the Management Committee and is responsible for driving transformation within the organisation. 

Mr. Richelle has 40 years of experience in the energy sector. Since 2017, Mr. Richelle has served as Vice-Chairman of NOMAC and is a member of the ACWA Power Nomination and Remuneration Committee. He has worked in many countries including Algeria, Oman, the UAE, Thailand, and South Africa.

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Richelle spent the first 15 years of his career in the nuclear industry, working for Westinghouse and Eskom. He joined Engie in 1998 and held different positions of increasing responsibility as Head of Business Development in the Middle East, Regional CEO for Middle East, Asia and Africa, and COO of International Power. 

Mr. Richelle holds an MS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Liege in Belgium and an MS in Climate Change from King’s College in London.

Bart Boesmans is the Chief Technology Officer at ACWA Power and is leading technology development at ACWA Power. 

He brings over 25 years of international experience in the electrical power industry having held operational and executive leadership roles in a range of areas including engineering, business development, project execution and asset management.

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Bart’s experience was primarily with Engie where he led several C-Suite roles for over 10 years across multiple geographies, the most recent one being Deputy Managing Director of Engie’s Global Business Line Renewables. Before joining Engie, Bart was CEO of Laborelec, an internationally operating electricity research and O&M services center.

Since his early engagement in wind energy over two decades ago, Bart has been actively involved in a wide range of technologies including conventional power generation, natural gas, LNG transport and storage, green gases, solar PV and CSP, hydropower, battery storage, demand side management and microgrids.

Bart holds a master’s degree and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of KU Leuven. He is also a visiting professor at the University where he teaches power generation engineering.

Alvaro Perez joined ACWA Power in Q4 2020 as the Chief Digital Officer and is leading ACWA Power’s digital transformation, as well as managing the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) functions.

He has over 20 years of experience within technology integration and has been responsible for leading large international IT projects where technology and digitisation were key for business transformation. Mr. Perez had been a member of numerous boards including International Oracle Utilities Product Development Advisory Board and several American power generation associations, and participated as an entrepreneur on different ICO, blockchain and IoT initiatives.

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Perez held different posts during the last 20 years at the largest top five utilities in America and Europe most prominent being CEO of their services companies, CIO and Head of their Digital Hubs where he mainly specialised in distributed generation, demand response and aggregation, energy efficiency and smart cities development.

Mr. Perez is an Economic Science graduate from Complutense University, Spain. He also holds a degree in Executive Strategies from Harvard Business School.

Ghassan H. Shawli, ACWA Power’s Chief Legal Officer, is a legal veteran with 19 years of experience in senior leadership roles with reputable companies.

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Shawli was the Chief Legal Officer for the Diriyah Gate Development Authority, advising on legal affairs and overseeing the build-up and performance of the department. He has also held the role of Vice President of Legal Affairs for three years at The Saudi Arabian Airlines Cooperation as well as other senior positions at Saudi Aramco, cultivating deep sector expertise in the Kingdom.

Mr. Shawli brings a wealth of experience as lead counsel on mega projects; mergers & acquisitions; corporate governance; and restructuring within various industries, with market cap sizes exceeding US$ 20 billion dollars.

Mr. Shawli is a certified New York State Bar attorney and holds a Jurisprudence Doctorate degree from the Northwestern School of Law.

Philip de Cnudde is our Chief Risk, Strategy and Sustainability Officer at ACWA Power, and joined us in June 2021. In addition to taking undivided responsibility for this integrated function at ACWA Power, as a member of the Management Committee, Philip will join the other members of this committee to guide and support our ongoing efforts to achieving excellence in all spheres of our business and operations.

A seasoned practitioner in the industry, Mr. de Cnudde has over 35 years of experience, much of which has been achieved in senior leadership roles with some of the most well-known energy companies across the world. He brings with him a wealth of experience in Executive Leadership and Risk Management and is someone who has consistently championed the sustainability agenda wherever he has worked and has influenced their energy transition and renewable energy development strategies, with an emphasis on growth and enhancement of efficiency.

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. de Cnudde held the position of Managing Director, Global Industrial Hub at Engie in Paris, where he oversaw the functions of 3 departments advising on business development and operational performance. Prior to this role, he served for a period as the CEO of Engie Latam in Chile, where he was responsible for the overall business activities across Latin America and driving the energy transition strategy in the region for the company he was serving.

Mr. de Cnudde will oversee the Risk, Strategy and Sustainability function and will also take responsibility for the CSR function at ACWA Power. Within the domain of championing risk management and overseeing the development of our activities within the agreed risk appetite of the company, he will also be coordinating the Management Investment Committee and ensuring the effectiveness and integrity of the risk oversight and management process.

In the area of sustainability, in addition to championing environmental stewardship, social responsibility and good governance; and guiding and overseeing corporate social responsibility activities, he will also bring together ESG considerations into risk management and strategy at ACWA Power.