People

France: Patrick Debavelaere has been appointed as the director of LafargeHoclim’s Val d'Azergues cement plant near Lyon. He suceeds Thomas de Charrette who has been in post for six years, according to Le Pays Roannais newspaper. Debavelaere, aged 43 years, had been working as an industrial director for Lafarge France’s aggregate business. Prior to this he was the production manager at the Martres cement plant.

Ireland: Ernst Bärtschi has retired from the board of CRH. He was appointed to the board of directors in 2011. A Swiss national he was previously the chief executive officer of Sika and had worked for Schindler Group.

Denmark: FLSmidth has appointed Jan Kjaersgaard as a new Group Executive Vice President, Product Companies Division, and a member of Group Executive Management. Kjaersgaard, aged 51 years and a Danish citizen, will take up the position as head of Product Companies Division on 1 March 2018.

Kjaersgaard holds a Master of Business Administration from Aalborg University and comes from Bladt Industries where he currently serves as chief executive officer (CEO). His previous postings include various senior positions at Siemens Wind Power.

US: Ametek Brookfield has appointed Joseph Plante as Division Vice President and Business Unit Manager. He will have responsibility for managing the day-to-day operations while continuing to promote growth, customer satisfaction and innovation at Ametek Brookfield.

Plante holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from UMass Amherst, a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and a Master of Business Administration from Babson College. Most recently, he was president of Diba Industries, a subsidiary of Halma.

Ametek Brookfield manufactures tools for viscosity measurement and control of liquids and semi-solids.

Germany: Wieland Hopfe has left Fritsch Milling and Sizing after 25 years with the company. He originally joined Fritsch in 1992 and helped the firm establish its distribution network in the former East Germany. Most recently he was working as an application specialist for Fritsch. The company is a manufacturer of application-oriented laboratory instruments for sample preparation and particle sizing.