Meet Miljan Gutovic: Q&A with our new CEO

As Miljan takes on his new role as CEO of Holcim, we sat down with him to ask about his vision for the future as we start our company’s next growth chapter, as a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions.

What are your initial thoughts and feelings on becoming CEO?

It’s a true honor. I’m proud to be a part of Holcim with its rich history of achievement and success. It's a privilege and a responsibility that I take very seriously.

Having been part of Holcim’s journey since 2018, I’ve visited over 40 of our markets. There I’ve witnessed the transformation we’ve undergone to become the company we are today: best-in-class for financial performance, sustainability, innovation, and branding, which enables us to offer the best solutions for our customers.

I am looking forward to working with teams around the world to ensure that we continue delivering superior value for our customers and shareholders, and that Holcim continues to be a place where performance is rewarded and where health and safety is our top priority.

What tops your ‘to do’ list during these first days?

My top ‘to do’s’ relate to Purpose, People and Performance.

Every day, Holcim colleagues are driven by a strong sense of Purpose as we decarbonize building at scale. We are a sustainability leader in our industry, with circularity at the core of our strategy. What makes this purpose achievable? Our People.

I’ve seen Holcim’s team spirit first hand. We have a deeply embedded performance culture with more than 500 talented P&L leaders and 64,000 colleagues. I am committed to ensuring Holcim is a place where talent is nurtured, diversity is celebrated and innovation is encouraged. I am also looking forward to meeting our customers and other stakeholders, whose trust and support is essential.

Our Purpose and People enable our performance. We had the courage to set ambitious targets, and have achieved exceptional performance with industry-leading EBIT margin, a superior earnings profile, strong balance sheet, and leadership in sustainability.

We will keep driving our strategy execution to deliver superior performance.

Miljan speaking at Investor Day focused on Decarbonization in Europe

Carmen Díaz, Holcim Spain CEO, with Miljan at the inauguration of our plant in Villasequilla, Spain

Miljan visiting Holcim's advanced crushing system in France, a game changer in circular construction

What can you tell us about Holcim's decarbonization journey?

Decarbonizing concrete and cement is at the heart of Holcim’s pathway to net zero, and we are accelerating the decarbonization of our formulations and energy mix.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage is a game changer, and we have an advanced roadmap in progress to make net-zero cement a reality within this decade. In April we broke ground at our carbon capture and utilization project in Lägerdorf, Germany. This facility alone will capture and utilize 1.2 million tons of CO₂ per annum by 2029.

As you saw from our Q1 results, we made a strong start to 2024 with demand accelerating for our advanced low-carbon branded solutions: ECOPact reached 26% of net sales in ready-mix and ECOPlanet 26% of net sales in cement.

Solutions & Products posted strong results as well, and Elevate™ recently opened a state-of-the-art production and distribution facility in Salt Lake City, U.S., to triple regional production capacity of its branded, energy-efficient insulation products.

Circular construction is another profitable growth opportunity that will exist for years to come. As one of the world’s largest urban miners, Holcim is already at the heart of cities worldwide with our advanced ECOCycle® circular technology platform.

We’re ramping this up to accelerate recycling of construction and demolition materials, with 135 recycling centers now operating globally. The materials we recycle can be used in new building solutions – everything from cement and concrete to aggregates.