Germany: The German Cement Works Association (VDZ) has elected Dirk Spenner, Spenner Zement as its president. He succeeds Christian Knell, Heidelberg Materials, who has been in post since 2017. The board of the VDZ has also been preparing for a change in management at the organisation following the planned retirement of the current CEO Martin Schneider in November 2026. Manuel Mohr will become the new CEO of the VDZ. He is currently working as the Head of Political and Economic Affairs and the managing director of the InformationsZentrum Beton. He will lead the association together with Jörg Rickert, who will become Managing Director Technology. Rickert is currently the Managing Director VDZ Technology and Head of Cement Chemistry.

Finland: Tana has appointed Gerd Schreier as Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Channel Management. He will lead the company’s sales, marketing, and channel management functions. Schreier previously worked for Doppstadt and Liebherr. Olli Heinonen has also been appointed as Vice President, Product Marketing & Portfolio Strategy. He was previously working for Tana as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Before this, he held roles with Metso and AGCO Corporation.

UK: The Mineral Products Association has appointed Sam Ghazizadeh as Technical Lead – Cement. He previously worked as a Materials Specialist for Mott MacDonald. Ghazizadeh holds a PhD in construction materials chemistry from University College London.

Ivory Coast: Cimpor has appointed Yasin Tekinarslan as the CEO at Cimpor Africa.

Tekinarslan previously worked as the Country Director for Cimpor in the Ivory Coast. Prior to this he was the Factory Director for the company in Abidjan. Earlier in his career he held roles with OYAK Çimento including, one managing concrete plants in Türkiye. He has also worked for Votorantim Cimentos, likewise in Türkiye. Tekinarslan holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Erciyes University