Luxembourg - December 17, 2013, Luxembourg - ArcelorMittal announced it has reviewed its organisation with the aim of simplifying it and made several changes to its top management.
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Gonzalo Urquijo will become head of health and safety and corporate affairs (government affairs, corporate responsibility and communication).
Mr. Urquijo is currently responsible for Asia, Africa, Commonwealth of Independent States (excluding China and India); Distribution Solutions; Tubular Products and corporate responsibility. He was previously senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of Arcelor.
Mr. Urquijo graduated in economics and political science from Yale University, US, and holds an MBA from the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain.
Henri Blaffart, in addition to being executive vice president and group head of human resources, will also take responsibility for corporate services encompassing legal, capital goods, shipping and IT.
Mr. Blaffart was appointed head of human resources (HR) for the group in April 2013. He is also responsible for government relations and international affairs. Before taking up his current position, hr was head of HR for the company's Flat Carbon Europe segment and a member of the segment management committee, a position he took up in April 2010.
Previously Mr. Blaffart was chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Lorraine in France, having first been head of primary for the same operation. He joined the group in 1982 as strategy and research and development director in Liege. He has held a number of other positions in the company including R+D director for construction and CEO of the former Arcelor's research division.
Mr. Blaffart is a civil engineer from the University of Liege, Belgium and holds a masters degree in general management from the Ecole D'entreprise pour le Perfectionnement au Management in Belgium.
Robrecht Himpe, currently chief executive officer of Flat Carbon Europe, is appointed head of business optimisation Europe.
Mr. Himpe was previously chief operating officer of Flat Carbon Western Europe. He started his career at the Sidmar Gent Hot Strip Mill, and in 1995 he became responsible for its cold rolling department. In 2001 he was appointed operational director of Arcelor Bremen, before becoming operational director of Arcelor Asturias in 2003.
Mr. Himpeis an electrotechnical engineer and a graduate of the University of Gent, Belgium.
Geert Van Poelvoorde is appointed head of Flat Carbon Europe.
Mr. Poelvoorde started his career in 1989 as a project engineer at the Sidmar Gent hot strip mill, where he held several senior positions in the automation and process computer department. He moved to Stahlwerke Bremen in 1995 as senior project manager.
Between 1998 and 2002 he headed a number of departments, and in 2003 he was appointed director of Stahlwerke Bremen, responsible for operations and engineering.
In 2005 Mr. Poelvoorde returned to ArcelorMittal Gent to take up the position of chief operating officer primary. In 2008 he became chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Gent with direct responsibility for primary operations, and was appointed CEO of the Business Division North within Flat Carbon Europe in 2009.
Mr. Poelvoorde graduated from the University of Ghent, Belgium, with a degree in civil engineering and electronics.
The company also announced that Michel Wurth has notified his intention to retire from the company in April 2014.
Mr. Wurth will retain his links with the company as chairman of ArcelorMittal Luxembourg and, subject to approval at the annual general meeting, as a member of the ArcelorMittal board of directors.
Mr. Wurth, a member of the management board and responsible for Long Carbon Worldwide, was previously vice president of the group management board of Arcelor and deputy chief executive officer, with responsibility for Flat Carbon Steel Europe and Auto, Flat Carbon Steel Brazil, Coordination Brazil, Coordination Heavy Plate, R&D, and NSC Alliance.
Mr. Wurth is also a former senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of Arcelor. Before this he held a variety of positions at steel company Arbed, including head of the Arbed subsidiary Novar, before joining the Arbed group management board and becoming CFO in 1996. He was named executive vice president in 1998. ■