People

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Zimbabwe has appointed Precious Murena-Nyika as its chief executive officer (CEO). She succeeds Siame Kaulule, who left the post in February 2020 for a new role with LafargeHolcim in South Africa, according to the News Day newspaper.

Murena-Nyika was previously director for human resources and communications at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe. She is the immediate past president for the Institute of People Management of Zimbabwe. She holds a degree in Psychology and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Zimbabwe and a postgraduate diploma in leadership from the Harvard Business School.

UK: Lafarge Cement has appointed Stuart Hutchings as the new plant manager of its Cauldon integrated cement plant in Staffordshire. He holds over 20 years of experience in the cement industry and is a qualified chemical engineer with a master’s degree in business.

The plant produces around 1Mt/yr of cement and employs around 150 staff. LafargeHolcim’s local subsidiary Aggregate Industries is currently planning a potential investment project to develop an additional chloride bypass and a new pre-processing plant for the storage of solid and liquid alternative fuels at the plant.

Italy: Gambarotta Gschwendt has appointed Davide Gambarotta as its chief executive officer (CEO) with immediate effect. He is also its sole owner designate. Gambarotta will maintain his position as CEO and sole director of MDG Handling Solutions.

Both companies will operate jointly, under the holding company Gambarotta Group. MDG Handling Solutions will offer complete engineering and procurement (EP) and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects. Gambarotta Gschwendt will design and produce equipment for bulk material handling.

UK: The Materials Handling Engineers Association (MHEA) has appointed James Bullock as its vice-president. He has been a member of the MHEA’s executive committee for several years. He succeeds Linda White, who has held the post since late 2019. White is taking the post of secretariat from 1 March 2020.

India: Bimlendra Jha, Managing Director and CEO of Ambuja Cement, a member of LafargeHolcim, has left the company to pursue other interests. The company has appointed Neeraj Akhoury as MD and CEO with effect from 21 February 2020. His appointment is subject to the approval of the shareholders.

Meanwhile, LafargeHolcim’s other Indian subsidiary, ACC, which is in the process of merging with Ambuja, has promoted its chief commercial officer Sridhar Balakrishnan to the position of MD and CEO.