People

Argentina/Mexico/Spain: Holcim has appointed Pablo Bittar as the Country CEO of Argentina, Christian Dedeu as the Country CEO of Mexico and Ricardo de Pablos as the Country CEO of Spain. Dedeu succeeds Jaime Hill, who has become Region Head North America. Bittar succeeds Dedeu. De Pablos succeeds Carmen Díaz, who has been appointed as the Chief People Officer in Holcim Group.

Dedeu previously worked as the CEO for Holcim Argentina from 2020. Before this he was the Commercial Director for the company in the country. He originally started working for Holcim in Argentina in 2007 before moving to Holcim Costa Rica in 2016 where he eventually became Commercial Director (Central America). Earlier in his career he worked for ExxonMobil in Argentina from the late 1990s. He is a graduate from the University of El Salvador in Buenos Aires and holds a Master in Business Administration from the IAE Business School.

Bittar worked for Holcim Argentina from late 1990s until 2012, eventually becoming a Procurement Officer. He then worked for Holcim in Ecuador and Colombia becoming the Head of Supply Chain Latin America in 2023. Bittar is an qualified accountant from the National University of Córdoba with a master’s degree in business administration from the same institution.

De Pablos joined Holcim in 2005. He became Regional Director Aggregates in Spain in 2009, Director Mediterranean Area in Spain in 2012, Export Director in 2016 and Director of Business Development and Exports in 2022. Prior to working for Holcim he was a Senior Consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. De Pablos holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an executive degree in business administration from the IE Business School.

US: Ireland-based Ecocem has appointed Mike Donovan as Technical Director for its US business operations. He will be responsible for overseeing key aspects of Ecocem’s business in the US, with a focus on widespread commercial adoption of the company’s low-carbon cement technologies, including ACT, by the US market.

Donovan most recently developed and brought a new natural pozzolan to market with Geofortis. He started his career in concrete in the 1980s working at companies including as Sherman Industries, Blue Circle Cement Tarmac and Central Concrete Supply (US Concrete). He is a graduate in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

US: Eriez has appointed Todd Loudin as its Vice President of Global Sales.

Loudin holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business from Kent State University and an Executive Master in Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland. He worked as a General Manager for Larox in the 1990s and was on the Standards Committee for the International Society of Automation (ISA ANSI) in the 2000s and early 2010s. Later he became the head of Neles’ USA Flowrox business and its Head of Sales for the Americas in 2021.

Eriez is a specialises in separation technologies. It supplies products to the mining, food, recycling, packaging, aggregate sectors, and other processing industries. The company was established in in 1942 and has its headquarters in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has appointed Antonio Miguel Sousa Pelicano as Executive Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. He has succeeded CEO Osvaldo Ayres Filho in the role. Filho took the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Investor Relations in May 2024 on a temporary basis when Bianca Nasser Patrocínio resigned.

Sousa Pelicano, a Portuguese national, holds a degree in economics from the University of Coimbra in Portugal and an International MBA in Administration from Rutgers Business School in the US. He has held executive positions at Cimpor and Votorantim Cimentos EAA (VCEAA). He worked at Cimpor from 2003 to 2012 starting his career as an IT Project Manager and eventually becoming the Country CFO. He also gained experience working in various countries, such as Morocco, Tunisia, Türkiye, China and Mozambique. Since 2012, he has been working at VCEAA, where he held the position of CFO in China. In 2019, he was responsible for creating the holding company VCI in Luxembourg, where he worked as CFO. In 2020, he took the position of CFO of VCEAA.

Global: Holcim has made three senior appointments in North America and at the group level.

Jaime Hill, the Country CEO of Mexico, has been appointed Region Head North America with immediate effect. He succeeds Toufic Tabbara, who is leaving the company. Hill joined Holcim in 1996 and has over 30 years of international experience, in finance, sales and marketing in the US and Latin America.

Carmen Diaz, the Country CEO of Spain, has been appointed as Chief People Officer with effect from 1 October 2024. She succeeds Feliciano González Muñoz, who is planning to retire at the end of 2024. Diaz joined Holcim in 2002 and has held commercial and general management roles in Madrid, Paris, Lyon and London.

Lukas Studer, General Counsel Corporate and M&A, has been appointed as Group General Counsel with effect from 1 November 2024. He succeeds Mathias Gaertner, who is leaving the group. Studer joined Holcim in 2008 and has been General Counsel Corporate and M&A since 2017, supporting corporate, finance and M&A.