Holcim and Lafarge select future executive committee
Holcim and Lafarge have selected the future executive committee to head the combined company after completion of the merger. In the new set-up, Bruno Lafont, as CEO, will head up a project team of 10 seasoned managers who will lead the transition until the completion of the merger. Once the merger is finalised, the members of this project team will be officially appointed members of the Executive Committee of the proposed combined company by the future Board which will be chaired by Wolfgang Reitzle, according to a joint company statement. Until then, the team’s role is limited to integration planning which will be implemented after closing.
Commenting on the major progress made since the announcement of the merger project, Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of the Board of Directors of Holcim and future chairman of the combined company, and Bruno Lafont, chairman and CEO of Lafarge and future CEO of the combined company said: "We are fully on track, and after a rigorous process, we have now identified the team that will lead the combined company into the future. We would like to use this opportunity to thank all our teams for their excellent work to build this new and exciting global company. As of now, the future Executive Committee will play a key role in the integration planning of our two groups."
The future Executive Committee includes Thomas Aebischer, currently in charge of Finance at Holcim, who will be heading up the Finance department. Integration, Organization and Human Resources will be led by Jean-Jacques Gauthier, currently in charge of Finance at Lafarge while Performance and Cost will fall to Urs Bleisch, currently in charge of Corporate Functions at Holcim. Gérard Kuperfarb, currently in charge of Innovation at Lafarge, will assume the responsibility for the new Growth and Innovation team. In terms of geographical areas, Roland Köhler, currently in charge of Europe at Holcim, will oversee the European market, while colleagues Ian Thackwray (currently in charge of East Asia Pacific and Trading) and Alain Bourguignon (presently overseeing the North American and UK markets) will lead the Asia Pacific and North America portfolios, respectively. Current Lafarge head of Operations, Eric Olsen, will take the helm in Middle-East and Africa, while Saâd Sebbar (present head of Morocco) will assume responsibilities for Latin America.
In India, both companies are well on track in preparing the merger with the future structure for this part of the world to be announced in due course upon clearance by the Competition Commission of India.
