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US: Eagle Materials has announced the appointment of Michael Haack as chief operating officer (COO), reporting to Steve Rowley, president and CEO. The COO position is a newly-created one in response to the company's significant growth and continued strategic expansion in construction and energy-related markets.

Michael joins Eagle from Halliburton Energy Services, where he enjoyed a 17 year career with successively important operating positions, most recently with the management of Global Operations for Sperry Drilling, a company in the drilling and evaluation division of Halliburton with operations in every major global oil and gas market. He was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree from Rice University and holds a Master of Science degree from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University, both in Industrial Engineering.

"We are proud to have such a high-calibre and experienced individual as Michael joining the Eagle team," said Rowley. "His placement in this newly created position is timely given our growth progress and strategic aspirations. Haack's experience will be especially valuable given our growth into energy-related markets, most notably in frac-sand and specialty oil well casing cement. This represents a significant step in the expansion of our strong operating leadership team and is aimed at ensuring the long-term continuity of Eagle's enviable performance track record."

Netherlands: Silicon, a specialist company in refractory anchoring systems and rapid arc stud welding technology, has announced that six new members have joined its team, where they will be instrumental in leading the organisation to drive worldwide business growth.

Marc Beers, who has been appointed as sales manager, has 15 years of experience at different sales management positions. "I look forward to working with such an awesome team and we are excited to work together on providing the best products and services to our customers." said Beers.

US: The PCA board of directors has elected Lafarge North America's CEO John Stull as its 2014 - 15 chairman. He succeeds American Cement Co's Cary Cohrs.

"This is an important time for the PCA to champion resilient construction and advocate for critical national infrastructure funding, both of which will ensure the vitality of the cement industry," said Stull, who in addition to being a long-standing director has co-chaired the PCA Manufacturing Technical Committee.

Over a 22-year Lafarge Group career, Stull has progressed through vice president and regional president roles for US, Latin American and Sub-Saharan African businesses. He holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of Akron and is a Harvard Business School executive management programme graduate.

Switzerland: Dominique Drouet, CEO of Holcim Morocco, has been appointed Area Manager for Africa Middle East and member of Senior Management of Holcim with effect from 1 January 2015. He will assume this responsibility in addition to his current role. Drouet will succeed Javier de Benito, who has decided to leave Holcim effective from 1 January 2015, to take up a new challenge outside the group.

Drouet joined Holcim in 1994 as CEO of Holcim Outre Mer and was appointed CEO of Holcim Lebanon in 1999. He took over his current role in 2004. Before working for Holcim, Dominique occupied various engineering, commercial and managerial roles in the construction materials industry. He holds a degree in Engineering from the Ecole des Travaux Publics in Paris and a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of Toulouse.

Sri Lanka: W Christopher Fernando has been appointed as an executive director to the board of Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) with effect from 30 October 2014.

Fernando was appointed as Group General Manager of the company in 1991. He is also a director of Fuji Cement Company (Lanka), Tokyo Super Cement Company (Lanka), Tokyo Cement Colombo Terminal, Tokyo Cement Power (Lanka) and Tokyo Eastern Cement Company. He holds degrees in economics, is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants (FCMA), Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA) and an attorney-at-law.