People

India: Ambuja Cements has appointed Manoj Kumar Sharma as its Chief Human Resources Officer. He has worked in human resources since the 1980s with a 12-year stint at Aditya Birla Group from the early 1990s. He also holds management experience at a number of Adani Group subsidiaries since the late 2000s including senior postings at Adani Infra, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy and Adani Electricity. Sharma is a graduate of DAV College in Chandigarh and holds post-graduate credentials.

India: Hemadri Cements has appointed K Suryanarayanan as its chief financial officer (CFO). He is a qualified chartered accountant who holds over 25 years professional experience. Suryanarayanan has previously worked as a CFO for companies including Lancor Holdings, Accel, GET Power and VVD Group.

Hemadri Cements manages an integrated cement plant at Jaggayyapet in Andra Pradesh.

Norway: Geminor has appointed Kasper Thomsen as its Operations Director. He has worked for Geminor since 2016, first as a Logistics Manager and then as the Country Manager for Denmark. Prior to this Thomsen worked in logistics roles for Frode Laursen and Nagel Danmark.

Norway-based Geminor is a recycling company focusing on refuse-derived fuel (RDF), solid recovered fuel (SRF) and hazardous waste for energy recovery. It also deals in recycled waste wood, paper and cardboard, plastic and other types of waste for material recycling in Europe. It runs logistic hubs and offices in Scandinavia, Finland, the UK, Germany, France, Poland, Spain and Italy.

India: Sanghi Industries has appointed Sukuru Ramarao as its chief executive officer (CEO). He succeeds Ravi Sanghi, who was the chair and managing director, following the acquisition of a majority stake in the company by Adani Group subsidiary Ambuja Cements. Sanjay Kumar Khajanchi has been appointed as the chief financial officer, Manish Mistry as company secretary and Ajay Kapur as chair of the company’s board of directors.

Sukuru Ramarao holds over 35 years of professional experience in the building materials sector. He started working for Ambuja Cements in the late 1990s, eventually becoming the company’s chief manufacturing officer in the 2021. He then became the CEO of Adani Group’s cement business in 2023. He holds an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

Sanjay Kumar Khajanchi has worked for Ambuja Cements for over 20 years, reaching the position of Head - Finance & Controlling in 2021. He holds a bachelors degree in commerce from St Xavier's College in Kolkata, qualifications from the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as various professional financial accreditations.

Manish Mistry has worked with a wide variety of companies for over 15 years including Bell Ceramics, Alembic Group, Cadila Group and GACL before joining Adani Group in 2022. He is a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and holds a degree in commerce and law from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Ajay Kapur has been the CEO of Adani Group’s cement business since mid-2022. He has worked for over 25 years in the cement sector, originally starting at Ambuja Cements in 1993. He subsequently became the company’s managing director and CEO from 2014 to 2019. He then was the head of the aluminium and power division at Vedanta Group. Kapur holds an undergraduate degree in economics from St Xavier's College, a master of business administration (MBA) degree from the K J Somaiya Institute of Management and has completed the Advanced Management Programme at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has elected Massimo Toso as its next chair. He is the current president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Buzzi Unicem USA and has worked as the vice chair of the association. He succeeds Filiberto Ruiz, president and CEO of Votorantim Cimentos North America, in the post.

Monica Manolas has been elected as vice chair. She is the first woman in the 21st century to be elected to the position and she currently works as the president of Ash Grove East. Jorge Wagner, CEO of Votorantim Cimentos North America, was also elected to the PCA Board of Directors.