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US: CalPortland has appointed Hamed Maraghechi as its Director of the Central Research Laboratory. He will be based at the CalPortland Center of Technical Excellence in southern California where he will conduct new research and testing related to issues such as carbon reduction and sequestration to help the company achieve its commitment to lowering greenhouse gases. He will also oversee all advanced analytical services for customers and for internal operations, in this newly created position.

Maraghechi holds a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a materials focus from the Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a master’s degree in Polymer Engineering from the University of Tehran in Iran. He was most recently a senior scientist at Fortera working on the design and development of low CO₂ cement and concrete formulations. Prior to Fortera, he worked as a scientist at Boral IP Holdings and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.

Australia: Boral has appointed Vik Bansal as its chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director with effect by 5 December 2022. Zlatko Todorcevski will remain as CEO until transition to Bansal is completed.

Bansal holds over 30 years of management experience with industrial organisations. He has been the CEO of steel-manufacture InfraBuild since mid-2021. Prior to this he was the head of waste management company Cleanaway from 2015 to 2021. He is currently the chairman of LGI and has volunteered as a director for organisations including the National Waste & Recycling Industry Council, Waste Management & Resource Recovery and Disability Services Australia.

Bansal is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He originally trained as an electrical engineer, holds a master of business administration (MBA) degree and has completed the Advanced Management Program from INSEAD. He has also completed a Master of Laws in Enterprise Governance.

Germany: Hengst Filtration has appointed Norbert Gregor as the group director of Hengst Group and the managing director of Industrial Air Filtration. He assumes his duties in a dual leadership role with Merete Gotfredsen, who leads the Process Air Filtration segment as its managing director. Both report directly to Peter Wink, Group Vice President for Industrial Air Filtration.

Gregor is a business economist who holds more than 25 years of management experience with a specialism in marketing and sales. From 2014, he was Vice President for DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and Eastern Europe at the Sweden-based filter specialist Camfil. In 2019, he moved to the Helsa Group as its chief executive officer, for which he was the managing director and realigned the two business units for molecular filtration (Helsatech) and elastomer technology (Helsacomp), which he sold to Mann+Hummel after a reorganisation. There, as Global Vice President, he was responsible for the post-merger integration of Helsa for two years, creating the new molecular filtration segment for the Life Science division for Mann+Hummel.

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has appointed Julio Asnal as its Director of Sales and Integral Solutions. He will lead the company’s sales strategy.

Asnal’s prior professional experience includes working as a regional director for Danone and as a commercial director for Coca-Cola FEMSA, where he also held marketing and strategic planning roles. Most recently he has worked in management positions for Promedon over the last decade. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the National University of Córdoba and a master's degree in Business Administration from IAE in Buenos Aires.

Germany: Beumer Group has appointed Rudolf Hausladen as its chief executive officer (CEO). He succeeds Christoph Beumer, who has been in post since 2000. Beumer will remain a member of the management board until the end of 2022 and then move to the advisory board.

Hausladen, aged 52 years, holds a university degree in mechanical engineering as well as a master’s in business administration (MBA). Previously he worked in management positions for logistics companies including Swisslog and Gebhardt Logistic Solutions. His most recent position outside of Beumer was as the group CEO of electronic company ERNI.