Austria: Alpacem has appointed Philipp Habjanic as the plant manager of its Peggau plant. He will take responsibility for both Alpacem and InterCal operations at the site. He succeeds Florian Salzer in the role, who had been managing the site on an interim basis since late 2023.

Habjanic has worked for Alpacem since 2020. He started as Project Manager Mining and Processing and became the Head of Process Engineering and Project Planning in late 2023. He holds a master’s degree in mineral processing from the University of Leoben.

Both Alpacem and InterCal are subsidiaries of Wietersdorfer Group. Alpacem produces cement and concrete products. InterCal manufactures lime products. InterCal operates quarries and a lime plant at Peggau. In late 2025 Alpacem, InterCal, and Innofreight announced that they were building an intermodal terminal at the site.

Canada: Carbon Upcycling Technologies, a producer of ‘next generation’ supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) has appointed Markus Kritzler as its new CEO. Kritzler will lead the the company’s expansion across North America and Europe, bringing more than 20 years of strategic leadership and executive experience in the building materials and financial sectors to his new role.

Kritzler joined Carbon Upcycling as Chief Revenue Officer in early 2025, leading the development of the company’s project pipeline and guiding the company as it constructs its flagship commercial project. He previously led group-wide strategy at Holcim, where he directed initiatives across North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He played a pivotal role in the multibillion-Dollar merger of Holcim and Lafarge. After Holcim, he served as Managing Director at 414 Capital, leading over 70 merger and acquisition transactions across early-stage investments and large corporate transactions.

Carbon Upcycling’s previous CEO (and Co-founder) Apoorv Sinha has become President of the company, focusing on investor engagement, external relations, technology development and the advancement of the company’s long-term strategy and direction. “This is a natural evolution for Carbon Upcycling as we move from proving the technology to delivering projects globally,” said Sinha. “I’m excited to welcome Markus as our new CEO. His executive industry experience and strategic leadership positions us well to execute on our ambitions and onshore critical cement supply chains.”

Austria: Lukas Himler-Bürger, has been appointed as Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Special Projects for the Wietersdorfer Group, the parent company of Alpacem. In his new position, the 33-year old will focus on the further development of the group’s corporate strategy, the evaluation and implementation of growth initiatives and on international strategic projects in the group's five business units. The goal is to sustainably secure the long-term competitiveness of the Wietersdorfer Group.

"Our international focus and the increasing dynamism of our markets require a clearly structured and consistently implemented group strategy," said Michael Junghans, CEO of the Wietersdorfer Group. "Lukas Himler-Bürger brings his international consulting experience and a sound understanding of industrial value creation to this role."

Himler-Bürger has experience in international strategy consulting and in the industrial sector. Prior to joining the Wietersdorfer Group, he worked at McKinsey & Company, where he advised companies on strategic issues, transformation and growth programmes.

France: Ecocem says it has appointed Thierry Legrand as the CEO of its subsidiary Ecocem France. He started the role in September 2025.

Legrand has worked in the cement sector since the mid-1990s. He started as a project engineer for Lafarge Ciments in France, later becoming a plant manager and then Human Resources Director. He worked as the Country CEO for Lafarge South Africa from 2012 to 2014, the CEO of Lafarge Malaysia from 2015 to 2018 and as Project Director Logistic Europe for LafargeHolcim from 2018 to 2020. More recently he was the Director Europe for Fortera from 2021 to mid-2025. He has also worked for Saint-Gobain and Lafarge Plasterboard during his career. Legrand is a graduate in industrial engineering from the École des Ponts ParisTech.