After two months of searching for a new CEO, the Board at Lafarge Holcim Zambia Plc announced the appointment of Jimmy J. Khan as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer effective 12 February 2019.
Jimmy takes over from Vincent Bouckaert who held the role barely two years following his appointment in 2016. He is also a “company man” who joined the Lafarge Holcim group back in April 2004. Vincent’s performance at the helm during his tenure in his last full financial year saw turnover of the company increase 13.3% year on year with cement production growing by 6.7%. Cement sales rose by 7% with the sale of aggregates also enjoying an increase of 4.9%.
He started his career with the cement maker as Lead for the Rapid Close Team, according to his personnel linkedIn profile page. Ten months later he became a Consolidation Accountant, a role he held for a year and 8 months.
He has an accounting background from Virginia Tech – Pamplin College of Business where he graduated with an Account and Computer Information Systems qualification which saw him rise to Senior Financial Analyst for the company. He held the role for a year and eight months before being appointed as Human Resource Manager for Lafarge’s Washington DC Metro area. His role as HR Manager saw him apply a different skill set that was far from accounting that included the development and creation of sustainable HR metrics for the Cement Division in North America. His background was instrumental in him managing a five person team that administered over the company’s USD$ 76 million bonus scheme.
After holding the role of HR manager for another 2 years, Jimmy was appointed Audit Manager for the company’s french operations based in Paris. He went on to Head the Business Processes Unit which managed internal control and audit in Nigeria for another two and half years up to June 2015. He got his first shot as a CEO when he was appointed as Managing Director of LafargeHolcim overseeing the company’s Mauritius and Seychelles operations.
The month of love is fast proving to be an exciting month for listed companies in Zambia as Jimmy’s appointment CEO for the Zambia outfit becomes the third biggest announcement on Stock Exchange News Services (SENS) after ZCCM IH and ZAMBEEF.
Khan’s first objective as CEO will be to carry on with the Chairman Muna Hantuba led Board ‘s vision for the company to focus on accelerating commercial innovations that will continue to differentiate Lafarge in the highly competitive building and construction sector whilst maximizing shareholder value.