Eric Olsen was previously Holcim Executive Vice President, Operations responsible for a large number of countries such as France, USA, Brazil and Egypt. He joined the Lafarge Group in 1999 and was a member of its Executive Committee from 2007 until its merger with Holcim in July 2015 to form Holcim.

He joined Lafarge North America in 1999, as Senior Vice President for Strategy & Development, leading the integration of cement manufacturer Blue Circle’s North American operations and restructuring its assets. Since 2001, he served as both President, North-East Cement region and Senior Vice President, Purchasing. Since 2004, Eric Olsen served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice-President for Lafarge North America, a NYSE traded company.

From 2007 to 2012, he served as Executive Vice-President, Organization & Human Resources of Lafarge Group. In this role, he led the integration of the Egyptian Orascom, a major acquisition with operations in Africa, Middle East and Asia. Eric Olsen also led the 2012 reorganization of the Group with a focus on country organization around end-market segments.

Eric Olsen started his career in the field of mergers and acquisitions at Deloitte & Touche, Banque Paribas and was one of the managing partners of Trinity Associates for six years. He is a business graduate from the University of Colorado, Certified Public Accountant (Chicago, USA), and holds a Master of Business Administration from HEC international business school in Paris.

Eric Olsen was CEO of Holcim July 2015 until April 24, 2017, when the Board of Directors accepted his resignation, two years after taking up the CEO role and assuming responsibility for successfully implementing the merger of Lafarge and Holcim.

He was Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction from July 2015 until 2017.