Faisal Jadu: Building High-Performance Organisations Through People, Governance, and Strategic Leadership

In today’s business environment, organisational success is increasingly determined by leadership capability rather than organisational size. Companies that consistently outperform their peers are those that align people, culture, governance, and strategy into a unified operating model. Human capital has evolved from a support function into a strategic driver of business performance, organisational resilience, and long-term value creation. Faisal Jadu has spent his career leading that evolution.

As Chief People and Culture Officer at ACWA Power, Jadu is responsible for shaping the leadership, culture, and organisational capability of one of the world’s leading private water desalination, power generation, and green hydrogen companies. His work reflects a leadership philosophy centred on developing organisations where people, performance, and purpose reinforce one another to support sustainable growth.

Elevating Human Capital to a Strategic Discipline

For many organisations, human resources has traditionally focused on administration and compliance. Today’s executive leaders recognise that competitive advantage is created through culture, leadership, workforce capability, and organisational agility.

Throughout his career, Faisal Jadu has championed this broader perspective. His leadership integrates strategic planning, organisational design, leadership development, governance, performance management, reward systems, and change management into business strategy, ensuring that human capital contributes directly to organisational success rather than operating as a separate function.

“High-performing organisations are built when strategy and culture evolve together.”

Leading Transformation Across National Institutions

One of the defining characteristics of Jadu’s career is the breadth of his leadership across both corporate and public-sector institutions.

In addition to his executive responsibilities at ACWA Power, he serves on numerous Boards and Board Nomination and Remuneration Committees across Saudi Arabia, contributing to governance, executive succession, leadership development, and organisational effectiveness. His appointments span organisations including National Water Company, Saudi Airlines, STC Bank, the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, the Royal Commission for Makkah City and Holy Sites, and several other national institutions.

These roles demonstrate the confidence placed in his ability to strengthen governance frameworks while helping organisations prepare for future leadership and sustainable growth.

Developing Organisations That Can Adapt

Business transformation is no longer driven solely by technology or financial investment. Sustainable change depends on organisations that are capable of adapting through their people.

Across every stage of his executive journey, Jadu has led initiatives focused on organisational restructuring, leadership capability, performance management, workforce planning, and cultural transformation. His experience has consistently centred on creating environments where employees are empowered to contribute, leaders are equipped to guide change, and organisations remain resilient in rapidly evolving markets.

This people-centred approach has become a defining feature of his leadership style.

Advancing National Capability

Before joining ACWA Power, Jadu played a key role within Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance, where he established and led the Financial Skills Center.

Created as a national initiative, the centre was designed to strengthen the financial capabilities of government employees across approximately 500 public entities, supporting nearly 18,000 professionals throughout the Kingdom. The initiative reflected a broader commitment to developing institutional capability while contributing to Saudi Arabia’s long-term public-sector transformation agenda.

Earlier leadership roles at SABB and Alawwal Bank further strengthened his expertise across organisational development, performance management, rewards, recruitment, executive leadership, and business transformation, providing a strong commercial foundation for his later executive responsibilities.

Governance as a Driver of Performance

Alongside his executive leadership, Jadu has consistently advocated for governance that creates organisational value rather than simply ensuring compliance.

His experience across board committees has reinforced the importance of leadership succession, executive accountability, talent governance, and organisational oversight in strengthening institutional performance. By aligning governance with business strategy, he has helped organisations improve decision-making while preparing for long-term growth.

His leadership continues to focus on:

• Human capital strategy.
• Organisational transformation.
• Leadership development.
• Corporate governance.
• Change management.
• Performance and culture.
• Executive succession.

Together, these disciplines create organisations that are better equipped to navigate complexity while maintaining high levels of performance.

“Leadership creates lasting impact when it develops people, strengthens institutions, and builds cultures that continue to perform through change.”

Recognition by Executive Leaders

Executive Leaders proudly recognises Faisal Jadu for his contributions to human capital leadership, organisational transformation, and corporate governance. Through his executive leadership at ACWA Power and his service across numerous national boards and governance committees, he continues to demonstrate how strategic people leadership can strengthen institutions, develop future leaders, and create sustainable organisational success across both the public and private sectors.