Our People

Song Zhiping

President World Cement Association

Song Zhiping is the President of the World Cement Association, Chairman of China Association for Public Companies, Chairman of China Enterprise Reform and Development Society and, former Chairman of China National Building Material Group Co., Ltd. (CNBM) and Sinopharm. With a PhD in Management Engineering, Mr. Song has received a number of awards for his management and entrepreneurial skills, including Golden Globe Award for China’s Outstanding Entrepreneur, Yuan Baohua Business Management Award, China Economic Figure of the Year, Fortune CEO Lifetime Achievement Award and others.

Mr. Song is an entrepreneur, reformer and corporate thinker: at the forefront of enterprise reform for four decades, he has created many practical management and reform experiences. Both CNBM and Sinopharm were included in the Fortune Global 500 list under his leadership. His experience in leading the integration and restructure of Chinese cement sector has been studied by Harvard University Business School, with his farsighted vision widely recognised and respected by the business community.

Ian Riley

CEO World Cement Association

After graduating from Cambridge University in 1979, Mr Riley worked in a number of management roles in the UK, the USA, Australia and Japan before moving to China in 1998. He was General Manager of a British project management and consulting firm, based in Shanghai and also Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai before joining Holcim/Huaxin in 2006.

As Huaxin VP responsible for international business, strategy and sustainability, he oversaw Huaxin’s first overseas venture in Tajikistan. Mr Riley was Greater China Country Head for LafargeHolcim from 2014 to 2019.  He has been CEO of WCA since September 1, 2019.

Vincent Lefebvre

Joint Chairman - World Cement Association

Mr Lefebvre is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Cem’In’Eu, an industrial start-up with a new cement production and marketing concept. The company has 7 innovative cement grinding projects at different stages of development in Europe, targeting markets in France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland and the UK.

Before founding Cem’in’EU, he was President of Cimens Kercim, an independent cement grinder in France. From 2010-2013 Mr Lefebvre was CEO of Holcim Spain and before this, country manager of Holcim France. In addition to cement, he has worked in the concrete, aggregates, mortar and construction chemicals fields and has a total of 35 years of construction materials experience.

Cui Xingtai

Joint Chairman - World Cement Association

Cui Xingtai has been Chairman of China United Cement Corporation (CUCC) since 2005. CUCC has nearly 100 subsidiaries in Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Beijing. CUCC has a production capacity of 120 mtpa cement, 150m m3 of concrete and 100 mtpa of aggregates.

His tenure as Vice President of both CNBM Limited and Chairman of CUCC has exceeded 16 years. He has worked over 40 years in the building material industry, with rich technological and management experiences in the cement industry.

He also has more than 35 years of business management experiences in the building materials industry. Mr Cui graduated from Wuhan University of Technology and has an MBA from Tsinghua University.

Mohammed Ali Al-Garni

Vice President - World Cement Association

Having joined Saudi Cement in 1984, Mohammed Al Garni has been Board Member & CEO since 2010. He is currently Chairman of affiliates in Jeddah and Bahrain and a member of Saudi Arabia’s National Cement Companies Committee and the Arab Union for Cement & Building Materials. He was previously Vice Chairman of International Cement in Kuwait.

Saudi Cement was established in 1955, a regional pioneer in high-quality cement, known for its quality products and services which fulfil both local and international requirements. Saudi Cement has a state-of-the-art export terminal at King Abdulaziz port in Dammam, reliably connected with the 10 mtpa capacity plant by railway.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Mahendra Singhi

Director - World Cement Association

Mr. Singhi is Managing Director and CEO of Dalmia Cement, a prominent cement manufacturing group in India. Dalmia is ranked no.1 globally by CDP on Low Carbon Economy Transition and noted by the UN Secretary General for its climate innovation. A visionary and advocate of sustainability, Mr. Singhi has been the driving-force in inculcating this concept in the objectives and operations of the cement companies he has worked with.

He has represented the business and cement sector globally in the most recognised multi-country platforms such as the Climate Action Summit of UN General Assembly by invitation of the UN Secretary-General; the Paris Climate Agreement Ceremony among many more. Mr. Singhi also serves many organisations and commissions in India and abroad as: President - Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA), India; Chairman - National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM) India; Chairman - Development Council for Cement Industry, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India. 

Roland van Wijnen

Director - World Cement Association

Roland was appointed as Group CEO of PPC Ltd in October 2019, and has over 20 years of CEO and consulting experience on a global scale, with a broad skill set encompassing operations management, strategy planning & execution, business process re-engineering, project planning and management, service delivery, senior-level relationship building and people management and development.

His experience in the cement industry started in 1998, and from 2010 to 2013 Roland served as CEO of Holcim Philippines followed by a CEO position at Holcim Trading. In all his CEO roles he has actively contributed to the reduction of the environmental footprint of the companies he worked for and also took additional external roles to drive the environmental agenda.