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Guatemala: The Inter-American Cement Federation (FICEM) has appointed Alejandro Ramírez Cantú, the chief executive of Cemex in the Dominican Republic, as its new president for the period 2017 – 2020 at its technical congress. He succeeds Gabriel Restrepo, manager of Institutional Affairs at Cementos Argos, in the role, according to the 7 Dias newspaper.

Ramírez Cantú is an industrial and systems engineer trained at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and he holds a Master's Degree in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined Cemex in 2000 and he has directed operations in Thailand, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

Colombia: Organizacion Corona has announced that its President Carlos Enrique Moreno will be replaced by Jaime Alberto Angel from October 2017 as head of the Corona Industrial division. Angel will oversee the construction of a US$400m cement plant in the Sonson Municipality of Antioquia, which the group is building as a joint venture project with Spain’s Cementos Molins. The 1.35Mt/yr plant is expected to come online in early 2019.

Moreno said that the decision to split the company’s management was due to the construction of the cement plant. Angel will also look after Corona’s bathrooms and kitchens, materials and paints, energy and industrial supplies and tableware divisions.

Germany: RKW Group has appointed Reinhold Franke as the head of its packaging division and to its executive board. He succeeds Matthias Kaufmann. Franke's areas of responsibility also include group marketing and communications, as well as research and development, sustainability and new business development

Franke, aged 57 years, started his career in 1985 and has worked in the sales and marketing of plastic films and flexible packaging. He began his career with Haendler & Natermann and later worked internationally for Nordenia as Head of Sales in the Netherlands and the US. In 2012, as president and chief operating officer (COO), he assumed overall responsibility for Nordenia USA Jackson. Following the acquisition of Nordenia by the Mondi Group, Franke moved to the Verpa Group, where he was responsible for setting up its US business.

UK: Hanson Cement has made two senior appointments within its bulk division as part of the company’s drive to improve customer service. Phil Matthew has joined as field sales manager and John Doolan has been promoted to key account manager. Phil and John will work together to strengthen new and existing customer relationships, reporting to Mark Hickingbottom, national commercial director – bulk products.

Phil Matthew was previously at AB InBev, where he held account and sales management roles. He will manage a team of six district sales managers and carry out internal training sessions in order to enhance customer service.

John Doolan, who has 27 years’ experience in the construction industry, will work in conjunction with Hanson’s key account customers to set and deliver strategic plans.

Commenting on the appointments, Mark Hickingbottom, said, “Phil and John’s combined experience and knowledge of the company will allow them to place Hanson’s values at the core of their work, helping to deliver our goals of being the most customer focused, responsible and reliable construction products supplier in the UK.”

Canada: A man has died after falling nearly 10m from a catwalk at Lafarge Canada’s Beachville limestone quarry near Woodstock, Ontario on 23 August 2017. Walter Nuvoloni, 47, was a long-standing purchasing manager at the company. He had been in the position since 2001.

"This is a very difficult and tragic incident and we are deeply saddened at the loss of our colleague,” said Karine Cousineau, Lafarge spokesperson, in a statement. “Our thoughts are with our colleague's friends and family. Lafarge is providing the support of our employee assistance program to help co-workers cope with the loss." Cousineau added that Lafarge Canada would not be commenting further on Nuvoloni's death.

Police initially held the scene before turning over the investigation to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, which is investigating the death. Ontario Provincial Police Constable Stacey Culbert told local press that the ministry will re-contact police if the investigation deems any action to be criminal.