Wael Sawan was born in Beirut in 1974, raised in Lebanon and Canada and trained at McGill and Harvard Business School. He joined Shell in 1997 and led the company's upstream and integrated gas and renewables businesses before being named chief executive in January 2023.
His tenure has been defined by a recalibration of Shell's strategy around disciplined capital allocation, sustained returns to shareholders and a more focused selection of low-carbon investments, with particular emphasis on LNG as a transition fuel, biofuels and select hydrogen projects.
Sawan is regarded as one of the most operationally disciplined executives in the European energy sector and has been an active voice in the debate over the appropriate cost of capital for the next decade of energy investment.