Arabtec Holding has promoted its group chief operating officer, Wail Farsakh, to chief executive officer, and appointed Najeh Awad as acting chief financial officer.

Farsakh has more than 33 years of experience in the UAE’s construction sector and takes over from Peter Pollard, who has been the chief executive since May 2019, following Hamish Tyrwhitt’s departure.

In a statement to Dubai Financial Market, Arabtec stated that under Farsakh’s leadership, considerable  progress has been made in closing out legacy projects, strengthening line and project management and closely aligning the Group’s construction related businesses in the past eight months.

Additionally, the Board of Directors also stated: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank Peter for his leadership and commitment over the past three years, which has allowed Arabtec to rebuild a long-term leadership team.”

Meanwhile, acting chief financial officer Awad has over 27 years of international and UAE experience in finance, risk, investments and operations. He has worked with EY, PwC and JP Morgan in the USA and with Abu Dhabi General Services (Musanada) as CFO, in the UAE.

“Najeh brings a deep understanding of contracting, along with strong  relationships with key stakeholders within Abu Dhabi and Federal Government, Regulators and Banks,” Arabtec said in the statement.