People

Mexico: Siemens has appointed Juan Ignacio Diaz as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens Mexico, Central America and Caribbean with effect from 1 June 2018. He succeeds Louise Goeser, who has left the company. Diaz was previously Country CEO of Siemens Chile and lead for its Mobility division.

Diaz joined Siemens in 2008. He has served in various functions in Chile and South America, first as General Counsel for Chile and later as General Counsel for the South America region. In 2010 he also took the position of City Account Manager for the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile, responsible for developing the portfolio of sustainable solutions for megacities. Since 2013, he has been CEO of Siemens Chile and lead for its Mobility division.

Austria: Stefan Kern has been appointed as the head of A TEC Group. He succeeded Wolfgang Hammer on 1 April 2018. Kern started at A TEC in August 2013 and was responsible for sales activities in Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and South Africa. In 2016 he joined the management board. Kern originally studied chemical engineering in Vienna.

Australia: Martin Brydon plans to retire from Adelaide Brighton. No time scale has been specified but he intends to remain with the business while its finds a successor for him.

Brydon, aged 62 years, has been in post since 2014. He holds over 30 years of experience in the construction materials industry ranging from electrical engineering, operational and general management, sales and marketing and strategy and business development.

Others executive changes at the building materials producer include the appointment of Zlatko Todorcevski as chairman of the board. He succeeds Leslie Hosking, who has decided to retire. Todorcevski, aged 50 years, has been a non-executive director since March 2017 and he was named chairman elect in February 2018. A training accountant he holds 30 years experience in the oil and gas, logistics and manufacturing sectors gained in Australia and overseas with a background in finance, strategy and planning.

Graeme Pettigrew has also retired as a non-executive director of Adelaide Brighton after 14 years of service at the company. He had been a non-executive director since 2004. The former chief executive officer of CSR Building Products held experience in the building materials industry in South East Asia and the UK through former roles as the managing director of Chubb Australia and Wormald Security Australia.

US: LafargeHolcim has appointed of Jamie M Gentoso as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its US cement operations. She succeeds John Stull, who was recently appointed as the CEO of Holcim Philippines.

Gentoso joins LafargeHolcim from Construction Specialties, an architectural building products manufacturer, where she held the position of vice president of Sales and Marketing and, prior to this, she was senior vice president of Concrete at Sika US. She began her career at Holcim as a technical service engineer and Architectural and Engineering market manager, with a focus on specialty cements, Ordinary Portland Cement, slag cement and fly ash.

Gentoso received her Masters of Business Administration from the University of Michigan and holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, also from the University of Michigan. She has sat on the board of directors for several industry organisations and intends to continue to her involvement.

India: Shree Digvijay Cement has appointed Vikas Kumar as its chief financial officer with effect from 1 May 2018. He succeeds MV Ramaswamy who has resigned from the company.