People

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Sergo Vashakidze as its Commercial Director Africa & Mediterranean-Western Asia. Vashakidze has worked for the group since 2011 in a variety of roles. He became the Deputy General Manager for RMC/AGG operations at HeidelbergCement Kazakhstan in 2014, that country’s Sales and Marketing Director Cement in 2016 and then the Area Commercial Director NEECA (Northern & Eastern Europe - Central Asia) based in Germany in 2021. Prior to this he worked in a variety of banking positions in Georgia and Germany.

Vashakidze holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Tbilisi State University and a master’s degree in economics and social studies from the University of Trier.

India: Toshali Cement has appointed Dhiren Nayak as its Vice President – Works.

Prior to this, Nayak worked as the plant head of an unspecified cement plant in Odisha in 2023, having earlier worked as a cement sector consultant. He notably held the position of Head of Operations at the Saudi Cement Company in Saudi Arabia from 2013 to 2019 and was a Technical Works Manager at Fujairah Cement Industries in the UAE from 2010. Earlier in his career he worked for FLSmidth, Lafarge Cement, Tata Steel and OCL India.

Toshali Cement operates an integrated plant at Ampavalli in Odisha and a grinding plant at Bayyavaram in Andhra Pradesh.

US: Denmark-based FLSmidth has appointed George Conners Delgado as Sales Manager Americas – Pyro & Grinding Technologies. This follows his previous roles at the company based in Peru, where he became Sales Manager - Pyro-process Division - South & Central America in 2022. Before this, Delgado worked for ThyssenKrupp as a Service Sales Engineer in Peru and as a Project Engineer for Relansa in Venezuela.

India: ThyssenKrupp Industries India has appointed Prashant Jamadar appointed as Senior General Manager – Marketing. He has worked for ThyssenKrupp Industries India since 2006 in a variety of marketing roles. Jamadar holds a qualification in mechanical engineering from the G M Choudhary Engineering Collage and a master’s of business administration (MBA) degree from the Indo-German Training Centre in Mumbai.

Austria: Australia-based FCT Combustion has appointed Átila Soares as its Sales Manager for Europe and Africa. He will be based at the company’s office in Vienna. Soares previously worked for Aumund Group in Brazil in a variety of roles since 2005. The latest position was as a Sales Manager based in São Paulo. He also holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Faculdade de Engenharia Industrial (FEI) in Brazil.