41. Jamal Serhan, CEO Warwick MENA & Vice President, Warwick International Hotels (Last year 43rd)
Four years into his Middle East expansion plans, this CEO is accelerating regional growth.
During his four years at the helm of Warwick MENA, Serhan has initiated the brand’s move into Doha, Baghdad, Dubai, Riyadh, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, and has grown the local workforce to 1800.
The New-York-founded company operates in the Middle East out of two regional offices (in Beirut and Dubai) with 18 operational and support staff, including a director of business development, chief operating officer and a chief marketing officer.
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Serhan is accelerating local growth, increasing the number of pipeline properties threefold in the last 12 months, from four to 12. He told Hotelier his priority is to “continue to penetrate the Middle East gateway markets and ramp up our expansion into Africa, India and the sub-continent.”
To do so, he will use his 35-years of industry experience — one third of which has been with Warwick — and draw upon the commitment that comes from the company’s owner-operator focus.
Serhan is a member of the USA & Lebanon Chamber of Commerce, a board member of the South Pacific Hotel Association, and chairman of the TAG Group.
By the number:
Number of years in role: 4
Number of years with company: 24
Number of operating hotels in the Middle East: 8
Number of pipeline hotels in the Middle East: 12
Top inspiration
“Having spent 24 years with Warwick International Hotels, I name Mr Richard Chiu, the company’s president, as the one person I would thank for inspiring me to get to where I am today”
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