People

Malaysia: Yeoh Tiong Lay, the founder of YTL Group, has died at the age of 88. Lay started with a construction company in Kuala Selangor in 1955 and the built the company into a conglomerate including cement production, power generation, water and sewerage services, communications, construction contracting, property development and investment, hotel development management and more. He was appointed to the board of directors of YTL Corp in mid-1984 and was appointed as the executive chairman in 1985.

India: ACC has appointed Jan Jenisch as an additional director to its board. Jenisch, a German national, was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of ACC’s parent company LafargeHolcim in mid-2017. Previously he was the CEO of Sika. He graduated from the University Fribourg, Switzerland and holds an MBA degree.

Oman: Al Wusta Cement Company has appointed Abdullah Abbas Ahmed as its chairman and Ahmed bin Yousuf bin Alwai Al Ibrahim as its vice-chairman. The officials were nominated at a meeting of the representatives of two joint venture partners Raysut Cement Company and Oman Cement Company. The new cement company plans to build a plant at Duqm in 2018.

Switzerland: Géraldine Picaud has been appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of LafargeHolcim and member of the Executive Committee with effect from 1 February 2018. She succeeds Ron Wirahadiraksa, who is described as leaving the company for ‘opportunities outside the group.’ He leaves after less than two years in the role.

Picaud, a French national, joins the group from Essilor International, an ophthalmic optics company, where she has been Group CFO and member of the Executive Committee since 2011. Prior to joining Essilor, she spent four years working for the ED&F Man group in Winterthur, Switzerland following 13 years as CFO at international specialty chemicals group, Safic Alcan. She originally trained as an auditor.

US: Douglas C Rauh has resigned as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Summit Materials with effect from 30 December 2017. Tom Hill, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, will act as Interim Chief Operating Officer while the building materials company searches for a replacement. During the recruitment period, the three Executive Vice Presidents of the company’s operating segments Tom Beck (Cement Segment), Shane Evans (West Segment) and Damian Murphy (East Segment) will report directly to Hill.