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France/Switzerland: Holcim and Lafarge have announced the executive committee for the proposed merged company, LafargeHolcim, due to be formed in the first half of 2015. As previously announced, Lafarge's current CEO Bruno Lafont will become LafargeHolcim's first CEO and the chairman of the new board will be Wolfgang Reitzle, currently chairman of Holcim.

Lafont will lead a project team of 10 managers from both Holcim and Lafarge to handle the transition. Once the merger is finalised, the members of this project team will be officially appointed members of the Executive Committee.

The future executive committee is composed of:

• Finance: Thomas Aebischer, currently in charge of Finance at Holcim;
• Integration, Organisation and Human Resources: Jean-Jacques Gauthier, currently in charge of Finance at Lafarge;
• Europe: Roland Köhler, currently in charge of Europe at Holcim;
• Asia Pacific: Ian Thackwray, currently in charge of East Asia Pacific and Trading at Holcim;
• Middle-East Africa: Eric Olsen, currently in charge of Operations at Lafarge;
• North America: Alain Bourguignon, previously in charge of North America and UK at Holcim;
• Latin America: Saâd Sebbar, currently in charge of Morocco at Lafarge;
• Performance and Cost: Urs Bleisch, currently in charge of Corporate Functions at Holcim;
• Growth and Innovation: Gérard Kuperfarb, currently in charge of Innovation at Lafarge;

In India both companies are well on track in preparing the merger of Holcim and Lafarge, with the future structure for the subcontinent to be announced in due course upon clearance by the Competition Commission of India.

The current executive committees of Holcim and Lafarge remain in charge and accountable for the activity and operations of their respective groups until completion of the merger. Both groups continue to operate entirely separately as competitors until the merger is completed.

The selection and nomination process for the rest of the leadership team is also well underway. Apart from the future executive committee, the following direct reports of the future CEO have been selected under project mode:

• Strategy and M&A, Christof Haessig, currently in charge of Corporate Finance and Treasury at Holcim;
• Communication, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development, Alexandra Rocca, currently in charge of Communication, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development at Lafarge;
• Legal, Xavier Dedullen, currently in charge of Legal & Compliance at Holcim;
• Health and Safety, Sapna Sood, currently in charge of Health and Safety at Lafarge.

South Africa: PPC has named a mining industry veteran as CEO, ending a three-month leadership vacuum that has hit its share price. Darryll Castle will take over as CEO from 12 January 2014. Castle previously worked as chief operating officer (COO) at base metal miner Metorex, which has since been acquired by China's Jinchuan Group. A chartered financial analyst, he has been CEO of Trafigura Mining Group and Anvil Mining. Castle's experience includes projects in Zambia, Angola and Tanzania.

Spain: Waste treatment multinational Masias Recycling has hired Frederico Contente as its Key Account Manager for the cement sector. His main tasks will be to focus the company's sales on the international market of the cement industry. An industrial engineer with a Master's degree in international business, Contente has worked for several years with sector leaders in Finland.

Masias Recycling predicts that the use of alternative fuels by cement firms will grow 'significantly' over the next few years, as energy represents 30% of cement companies' operational costs. In 2012, it was estimated that the percentage of traditional fuels replaced by alternative fuels ranged from 5 and 10%, a figure predicted to reach 37% by the year 2050.

Spain: Loesche Latinoamericana, part of the Loesche Group, has appointed Vicente Fernández to take up the position of Sales Director (Spain), with effect from 1 December 2014.

Fernández, aged 39 years, has been working with Loesche Latinoamericana since 2006. Prior to his new appointment as Sales Director, Fernández has been actively involved in various functions within the Sales and Procurement departments. Previously he worked at the Procurement Department at Loesche GmbH in Düsseldorf, Germany. He holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering and an Executive MBA, backed by his extensive management and organisational skills.

Fernández will take over responsibility for all long-term clients, development of ongoing and future projects within Loesche Latinoamericana and the acquisition of new potential within the market. He will focus on serving the different industries in cooperation with sales forces within the group, in addition to strengthening Loesche Latinoamericana's customer service.

US: Ash Grove Cement Company has announced Alan C Finch as the new plant manager of its Chanute works in Kansas, USA, effective immediately.

"We are pleased that Alan will assume the leadership role of our Chanute plant," said Mike Hrizuk, senior vice president of manufacturing. "This plant opened in 1908 and is the longest running plant in our fleet of eight plants in the USA. We are eager to introduce Alan to the employees and community."

Finch has a 17-year career in the cement industry and comes to Chanute from Ash Grove's Durkee plant in Oregon, where he has been production manager for the past nine years. He previously held the production superintendent position at the same plant for three years.