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.’

Argentina: Carlos Casado has become the new Director of Operations at Holcim Argentina. He previously held positions for Holcim and LafargeHolcim in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He will be based in Córdoba and will control plants in Córdoba, Jujuy, Mendoza and Buenos Aires. Casado is an industrial engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, who has 17 years of experience in the LafargeHolcim group.

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.

Australia: Cement fibreboard maker James Hardie has picked its president of international operations Jack Truong to succeed Louis Gries as its new President and CEO. Dr Truong, who currently heads the firm's Asia Pacific fibre cement business and the Europe building products unit, will become global president and CEO for a six-month transition period as Mr Gries winds down his 13-year spell in charge. A former chief executive of Electrolux North America, Dr Truong has held his current role since April 2017.

“Jack offers the ideal combination of commercial expertise, operational excellence, and leadership in order to continue to grow the business and maintain the industry-leading performance, across the multiple geographies established by Louis over a long period," said chairman Michael Hammes.