Ridlington has served as TAQA’s CFO since July 2020. In the first nine months of 2024, the company achieved group revenue of AED 41.7 billion ($11.35 billion), 6% higher than the prior year period, mainly due to the contribution from TAQA Water Solutions and Transmission and Distribution. The group’s net income for the period amounted to AED 6.3 billion ($1.72 billion), an increase of 13.2% compared to the net income recorded in the same period a year prior.
Prior to his role at TAQA, Ridlington was the CFO of the Dubai Financial Market-listed National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) between 2009 and 2011. During his time at Tabreed, Ridlington led the full restructuring of the business and designed a new financial strategy to ensure sustainability.
Ridlington left the Abu Dhabi-based utilities company to join Buried Hill, a private upstream oil and gas exploration company, securing financing for a start-up oil business in difficult conditions. After three years, he returned to serve as TAQA’s CFO once again, a role he held between 2015 and
Before moving to the Middle East, Ridlington spent 17 years working for BP in a variety of roles and locations. He also worked for TNK-BP between 2003 and 2008. Prior to this, Ridlington served as Economic Adviser for HM Treasury in the UK.
“ESG is at the heart of everything we do. It’s embedded in our strategy, which we announced back in 2022”
Ridlington said during an interview for the ADX ESG series in 2023.
Ridlington’s career has covered all strands of corporate finance and treasury, including debt and equity finance, investor relations, financial strategy, joint ventures, acquisitions, disposals and major financial restructuring with a sound commercial focus, among others. The executive’s sector experience includes upstream and downstream oil and gas, chemicals, power and infrastructure and utilities. Ridlington has lived and worked in the UK, the US, the UAE, Singapore, Russia and Hong Kong.
In terms of education, Ridlington holds a Master of Philosophy in Economics from St Antony’s College in the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Sussex, in the UK.
