India: Orient Cement has appointed Sushil Gupta as chief financial officer following a meeting of its board of directors. Other appointments included Rahul Deshmukh as chief operating officer and S K Pandey as plant head of Devapur.

India: The director of JK Cement, Shri Jagendra Swarup, passed away on 30 July 2014. His replacement is expected to be announced shortly.

US: Titan America has appointed Bill Zarkalis as CEO for Titan America. Zarkalis joins from parent organisation Titan Cement SA, where he has served as CFO since 2010. Prior to that, Zarkalis was Titan Cement SA's executive director of business development and strategic planning.

"It was a great learning opportunity and a privilege to take a detour from a long career in business management roles and serve Titan as CFO and I'm now thrilled to be with Titan America," said Zarkalis. "The building materials and construction industry has faced a deep and prolonged crisis. Our company has successfully weathered economic storms on both sides of the Atlantic and I'm grateful for our dedicated employees and the character and leadership that it took to get through this difficult period. We'll continue to focus our efforts on restoring financial fitness while we build a healthier, more profitable Titan America. Our future looks strong and I'm confident about our continued growth and success."

Before joining Titan, Zarkalis served in a variety of executive positions with Dow Chemical, including global vice president of Dow Automotive, global business director of specialty plastics and elastomers and global business director of synthetic latex. He has represented Titan in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the European Round Table (ERT) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI).

India: JK Cement has appointed Sushila Devi Singhania as an additional director with effect from 26 July 2014.