Gypsum industry news

Switzerland: Sika has appointed Paul Schuler, currently Regional Manager Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA), as its chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 1 July 2017. He succeeds Jan Jenisch who has accepted to become the new CEO of LafargeHolcim. Schuler has worked at Sika for 29 years and has been a member of the group management since 2007. He served as Regional Manager North America from 2007 to 2012 and as Regional Manager EMEA from 2013 until the present.

France: Julie Bonamy has been appointed as the Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and Planning at Saint-Gobain with effect from 1 June 2017. She will replace Delphine Geny-Stephann, who has been appointed as the Vice President and General Manager Silicon Carbide & Quartz within the Innovative Materials sector. Bonamy will report to Guillaume Texier and she is a member of the Senior Management Committee.

Bonamy is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP de Paris) and the National School of Public Administration (Ecole Nationale d'Administration). She started her career as a civil servant (inspectrice des finances) for the French government in 2011, before joining the Office of the French Minister for the Economy, Industry and the Digital Sector in October 2014. She was appointed advisor for the budget and digital sector in July 2015.

India: USG Boral has announced that it will set up a 30Mm²/yr wallboard plant near Chennai at a cost of US$46m. The plant will support USG Boral's commitment in southern India as the company looks for ways to better serve its customers in India.

Plans are underway to break ground in the third quarter of 2017. The plant is expected to be fully operational within 24 months. More than 100 people are expected to be employed once the plant is operating at full capacity.

The new facility will add to USG Boral's India presence, where it currently operates two other facilities, a 9Mm²/yr wallboard and metal plant in Khushkhera, near New Delhi, and a joint compound and putty plant, in the Chennai area.

US: Valerie Gervais has been appointed as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Saint-Gobain Corporation, the group's holding company in North America. She will take a position on the group's North American Executive Committee and will report directly to Tom Kinisky, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Saint-Gobain Corporation.

Gervais will be relocating to Saint-Gobain's North American headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania from Paris, France where she was responsible for human resources for Saint-Gobain Glass US and human resources for Saint-Gobain ADFORS and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics within the Innovative Materials Sector globally. In addition to her new position in North America, she will continue to support the global Performance Plastics business, reporting to James Thomson, Vice President of Human Resources for Saint-Gobain's Innovative Materials Sector.

Gervais started working for Saint-Gobain in 2010 as Vice President of Development and Recruitment for Saint-Gobain in North America. Prior to that, Gervais held the positions of Director of Global Talent Management and Director of Leadership & Organizational Development for GlaxoSmithKline. She holds a master's degree in business from the Institute of Management in Rennes, France.

Philippines: Knauf Gypsum Philippines has started building a gypsum wallboard plant in the industrial park at the Calaca Seaport in Batangas. The company is a joint venture between the German companies Knauf Gips and Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), an investment and development group, according to the Philippines News Agency. Murray Read, Knauf's chief executive officer (CEO) for Asia and the Pacific, said that the plant is aimed to meet demand for plasterboard and other gypsum-based building products within the country's growing construction industry.