US: Germany’s Beumer Group has appointed Joseph Dzierzawski as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Beumer Corporation, its US subsidiary based in Somerset, New Jersey. He has been in post since April 2020. He is responsible for the Conveying & Loading Systems, Palletizing and Packaging Technology, and Sortation and Distribution Systems business lines in the North American market.

Dzierzawski holds a degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Michigan. Later he attended executive management programs at the University of Michigan School of Business and the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France. He joins Beumer from Hatch Metals & Minerals group where he worked as Global Director, Technology & Business Development. Prior to this he worked at SMS, where he held a series of positions, eventually serving as president and CEO for SMS USA and Chief Technology Officer for SMS Group.

Rwanda: Cimerwa has officially announced the appointment of Albert Sigei as its chief executive officer (CEO). He succeeded Bheki Mthembu, following the end of his term in office.

Sigei has 17 years’ experience in the building materials sector working for LafargeHolcim. His last role was in Malawi where he served as the local CEO, following postings in Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from University of Nairobi as well as professional qualifications in accounting and information technology management.

His first months in office have included coping with the coronavirus pandemic, remarketing Cimerwa’s product range under the SURE brand and working on the company’s listing on the Rwanda Stock Exchange.

Austria: Semperit has appointed Gabriele Schallegger as its chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from October 2020. Her term of office will end in October 2023.

Schallegger, aged 48 years, studied business administration in Graz and Exeter in the UK followed by several international management programmes, including one in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She most recently worked as the finance director of the Uncoated Fine Paper division at Mondi. Prior to this she held the position of CFO of Mondi Syktyvkar in Russia as well as finance director of the Kraft Paper Business division. She started her career in auditing and tax consulting at Arthur Andersen in Vienna. Subsequently she worked for the American pharmaceutical company Baxter and the Norwegian Orkla Foods Group, among others.

She succeeds Petra Preining, who had taken over the CFO role on an interim basis and will return to the supervisory board and audit committee of Semperit in October 2020.

Semperit develops, produces and sells a wide variety of products including conveyor belts, escalator handrails, construction profiles, cable car rings, products for railway superstructures, rubber products for the medical and industrial sectors and hydraulic and industrial hoses.

UK: Breedon Group has appointed Donna Hunt as its first Group Head of Sustainability. In the newly-created role, she will be responsible for developing and implementing a sustainability strategy to shape the group's practices and performance, ultimately improving the sustainability of Breedon's operations, products and services.

Hunt holds over 20 years' experience having held several senior sustainability, environmental and stakeholder engagement positions across the energy, aerospace engineering and construction materials sectors. She has served on several cross-industry committees on sustainability-related topics and remains an active STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Industry Ambassador on behalf of the Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC).