US: Two members of GMS’ board of directors, Peter Browning and Teri McClure, have won national awards for corporate leadership. Browning won the National Association of Corporate Directors’ Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognises commitment to the improvement of corporate governance. Meanwhile, McClure won DirectWomen’s Board Excellence Award for women lawyers who have served with distinction.

GMS chair John Gavin said "On behalf of the entire board of directors of GMS, I congratulate Peter and Teri for these well-deserved honours. It is gratifying to see that organisations like these recognise the incredible talent that we on the board get to experience every day. The selections of Peter and Teri for these important distinctions speak not only to this level of talent but also underscore our commitment to the highest level of corporate governance standards and promoting diversity and corporate governance principles. We are fortunate to have directors of such high calibre serving on our Board and benefit from their extensive knowledge and experience."

Ukraine: IF-GIPS has begun building its upcoming new 300,000t/yr plaster plant in Ukraine. IF-GIPS sells its gypsum products under the KRUMIX brand.

IF-GIPS says that it subsequently plans to build a new gypsum wallboard plant, also in Ukraine.

US: Xeriant has hired the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and another accreditation agency to test its NEXBOARD waste plastic-based wallboard for the construction market. The producer says that tests will include the NFPA 286 and the ASTM E84 fire safety tests, as well as tests of tensile strength, hardness, water resistance, acoustic and thermal insulating performance, and volatile organic compound emissions.

France: Saint-Gobain has appointed Christian Bako as Vice-President Marketing & Development at Saint-Gobain. He joins the company’s executive committee and will report to Anne Hardy, the Chief Innovation Officer. He succeeds Cordula Gudduschat, who has been appointed as the general manager of Isover and Rigips Germany.

Bako studied International Business Administration in Germany and Spain, and started his career at Roto Frank, where he held sales and general management roles in Germany, Spain and France. He joined Saint-Gobain in 2017 as Chief Digital Officer of the glass business in Germany, where he subsequently became general manager of Glassolutions. In 2020, he was appointed general manager of a High Performance Solutions business for Germany & Austria before becoming, in 2021, General Manager for Central Europe.