People

India: Martin Kriegner has been appointed CEO of Lafarge India as part of the current group-wide reorganisation drive. He will hold responsibility for all of Lafarge's cement, aggregates and concrete activities in the country.

"I am happy to return to India as Country CEO, at a time when the construction sector is evolving quickly in the country. By combining all of our activities together we will be able to support this evolution by offering integrated and innovative solutions at an earlier stage of construction in close proximity with our customers, allowing the full benefits of our innovative products and services to be realised," said Kriegner.

Martin Kriegner, an Austrian citizen, joined Lafarge in 1990 and became the CEO of Lafarge Perlmooser AG, Austria in 1998 before he moved to India as head of the cement activity in 2002. Prior to this assignment he served as regional president, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lafarge has four cement plants in India: two plants in the state of Chattisgarh and a grinding plant each in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

France: Gérard Lamarche has been appointed as a director at Lafarge at its Ordinary General Meeting in Paris on 15 May 2012.

Lamarche graduated from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve with a Bachelor's degree in Economic Sciences and a specialisation in Business Administration and Management. He also completed the Advanced Management Program for Suez Group Executives at the INSEAD Business School.

He began his professional career in 1983 with Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Belgium, and became a mergers and acquisitions consultant in the Netherlands in 1987. In 1988, he joined the Venture Capital Department of Société Générale de Belgique as an investment manager. He became the special projects advisor to the president and secretary of the Suez board of directors in 1995 where he later became the group's senior vice president in charge of planning, control and accounts management. He was appointed senior executive vice president – finance of the Suez Group in March 2004, becoming executive vice president - finance of GDF SUEZ, and member of the management and executive committees of the GDF SUEZ Group in July 2008.

Lamarche is a director of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (Belgium) and has been a managing director since January 2012. Lamarche is also a Director of Total and Legrand.

Columbia: Columbia's largest cement company, Cementos Argos (Cemargos), has named Jorge Mario Velásquez as its chairman.

A civil engineer with over 30 years' experience in cement, Velásquez replaces José Alberto Vélez, who remains at the head of parent company Grupo Argos. The changes are part of the company's ongoing corporate restructuring process, which includes splitting off non-cement assets to its investment arm, Inversiones Argos.

Thierry Legrand: Lafarge has appointed a new country CEO for its South African operations. Thierry Legrand was formerly the General Manager of Lafarge in South Africa but has changed role in line with the French building material giant's worldwide restructuring programme.

"Implementing this new structure will allow us to focus more efficiently on our customers and get closer to our markets," said Legrand. "We will use the strengths of our different product lines to design solutions in line with our customers' needs."

Legrand has managed several senior portfolios within the Lafarge group, both in South Africa and Europe.

India: Madras Cements has promoted its executive director for finance, A V Dharmakrishnan, to chief executive officer.

"A V Dharmakrishnan has been designated as chief executive officer of the company with effect from 1 April 2012," the Chennai-based cement maker said in a BSE filing.

Dharmakrishnan is a chartered accountant who began his career with Madras Cements in 1982. He has been an additional director at Rajapalayam Mills and Ramco Systems since 2008 and serves as a director On-Time Transport Company Limited. In addition he is a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Madras Cements is the flagship company of the diversified Ramco Group and it produces 13Mt/yr at its five manufacturing plants across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Apart from cement, Ramco Group has presence in real estate, paper production, hardware and stainless steel.