Sweden: Cementa has appointed Jenny Larsson as the district manager for its south region. She succeeds Lars-Åke Andersson, who has held the role for 20 years. Andersson will retire in the spring of 2019 and the pair will work together until this time.

Paraguay: The government has appointed Javier María Rodríguez as the president of Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC). He succeeds César Bogado, who was the interim president of the state-owned cement producer, according to the La Nación newspaper. Julio Ullón, the head of the civil cabinet, welcomed Rodríguez to the role and urged the new administration to, ‘continue to win national demand.’

Spain: Votorantim Group has appointed Alan Svaiter as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Votorantim Cimentos España. He succeeds Jorge Wagner, who has been promoted to the role of CEO of Votorantim Cimentos Europe, Asia and Africa. In his new position Svaiter heads a subsidiary running four cement plants, two mills, 29 concrete plants, eight aggregate operations and one mortar plant. He also directs a team of more than 500 people.

Svaiter, a Brazilian national, joined Votorantim Group in 2008. After leading the logistics of its cement division for two years he was appointed the director of Engemix, the company’s concrete business in Brazil. In 2014 he became director of the supply chain of the cement group for the entire Brazilian market.

Svaiter, a production engineer trained at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, holds a master's degree from the INSEAD business school. He started his professional career working for the Ambev brewery before joining the mining company Vale.

UK: Peter Cornell will join the Board of Breedon Group as an independent non-executive director on 1 October 2018. He is a Partner in Metric Capital, a Special Situations Fund targeting mid-sized companies throughout Europe with approximately Euro2bn of assets currently under management.

Prior to founding Metric Capital with his two partners in 2011, Peter was a Managing Director at Terra Firma, one of Europe's leading private equity firms. He formerly spent more than 20 years with international law firm Clifford Chance, latterly as Global Managing Partner.

Peter is currently non-executive Chairman of Grant Thornton and Lexington Consultants, a professional service firm consultancy. He is also a non-executive director of Schroders Limited, F&C Commercial Property Holdings Limited and IE Business School in Madrid.