Switzerland: Holcim has appointed Miljan Gutovic as its new CEO, effective 1 May 2024. Gutovic will replace Jan Jenisch, who will continue in his role as chair, for which he is set to stand for re-election at the group’s upcoming 2024 Annual General Meeting. Jenisch is also tasked with leading the planned US listing of Holcim's North American business.

Miljan Gutovic has served on Holcim’s Group Executive Committee since 2018, including as its regional head of Middle East and Africa, regional head of Europe and head of operational excellence. Holcim said that Gutovic’s area leadership helped to strengthen its market positions and deliver industry-leading margins. He also succeeded in advancing decarbonisation as a driver of profitable growth. Prior to joining Holcim as head of marketing and innovation in March 2018, Gutovic spent 12 years with construction chemicals producer Sika, where he became area manager Sika Middle East in January 2016. Gutovic has a civil engineering background and holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Jan Jenisch said "I am very pleased that the board has appointed Miljan as the new CEO of Holcim. He is a highly qualified successor who has played an instrumental role in Holcim’s successful transformation to become the leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. Miljan has strengthened our business with record profitability in Europe, closing strategic transactions and building winning teams. I am honoured to stand for re-election as the chair of the board and to lead the planned US listing of Holcim’s North America business. I will continue to dedicate all my efforts to the future of Holcim and all our stakeholders.”

Miljan Gutovic said "I thank the board of directors for trusting me to lead Holcim into its next chapter of success. As a civil engineer who is passionate about the construction industry, Holcim is the best company to be part of. With decarbonisation and advanced technologies transforming how we build, there has never been a more exciting time for our sector. I look forward to working with the Holcim teams around the world to advance our leadership.”

Türkiye: Çimsa has appointed Arda Aba as a Purchasing Group Manager. He has worked for the cement company in purchasing and investment roles since 2015. Before this he held a number of similar roles in the automotive industry with positions at Pimsa Adler and Ford Otosan. He holds a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Istanbul Technical University and Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi respectively.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has appointed Göktuğ Aktaş as its Director - Africa, Mediterranean and West Asia. He previously worked as the Performance Manager (Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia) for the group from late 2018. Prior to this he worked for Türkiye-based Akçansa from 2011 in quality management roles becoming Country Production and Quality Manager (RMC & Aggregates) in 2017. Aktaş is a graduate in science and civil engineering from the Istanbul Technical University and the University of Buffalo in the US. He also holds an administration in business administration (MBA) qualification from Istanbul University.

US: Charah Solutions has appointed Matthew Sutton as its chief executive officer (CEO). He will report to the company’s executive chair Curt Morgan.

Sutton holds over 30 years of management experience from various environmental, engineering and consulting companies. He worked as the president of CH2M’s environmental and nuclear management business, the CEO of global environmental services at AECOM and executive vice president of Arcadis Environmental. He also spent time as the Senior Vice President of ehsAI, an environmental, health and safety compliance machine learning start-up and, most recently, as president and CEO of Matrix Solutions, an environmental and engineering consulting company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.