Jan Jenisch

Overview

Jan Jenisch
Born	1966 (age 59–60) Denzlingen, Germany
Citizenship	German
Education	MBA in business administration
Alma mater	University of Fribourg; Stetson University
Occupation	Business executive
Employer(s)	Amrize (chairman and CEO); Holcim (former CEO and chairman); Sika AG (former CEO)
Known for	Transforming Holcim and leading the creation of Amrize; defending Sika's independence; promoting low-carbon building solutions
Title	Chairman and CEO of Amrize; former CEO and chairman of Holcim; former CEO of Sika AG
Term	CEO of Holcim (2017–2025); chairman and CEO of Amrize (2025–present)
Board member of	Schweiter Technologies; Glas Trösch; Global Cement and Concrete Association; European Round Table for Industry; World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Spouse	Married
Children	2
Awards	Swiss Manager of the Year (2016, 2019); Honorary doctorate, University of Fribourg (2021)

🏗️ Jan Jenisch (born 1966) is a German business executive who has led some of the world's largest construction materials companies, including Swiss-based Holcim and its spun-off North American business Amrize, where he serves as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). A former CEO of specialty chemicals group Sika AG, he is known for resisting a takeover attempt by France's Saint-Gobain, steering Holcim through the aftermath of the Lafarge Syria scandal and a strategic pivot towards higher-value, lower-carbon building solutions, and then overseeing the separation of Holcim's North American operations into Amrize in 2025. Educated at the University of Fribourg and Stetson University, he has also held prominent industry roles such as president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association and has been recognised with honours including an honorary doctorate and multiple Swiss "Manager of the Year" awards.

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Early life and education

🎓 Early life in southwest Germany. Jenisch was born in 1966 in the small town of Denzlingen in southwest Germany and grew up in nearby Freiburg im Breisgau, an industrial and academic hub whose mix of Mittelstand entrepreneurship and cross-border connections shaped his early outlook. Raised in this environment, he was exposed to both the practicalities of manufacturing economies and the openness of a region closely linked to Switzerland and France, foreshadowing the international dimension of his later career.

🏛️ Studies in Switzerland and the United States. After completing secondary school, he moved to Switzerland to study business administration at the University of Fribourg, where he obtained an MBA in 1993 and developed an interest in international management; as part of his studies he spent time at Stetson University in Florida, gaining early experience of U.S. business culture and strengthening his command of English. During his student years he played tennis competitively, a discipline that colleagues later linked to his competitive drive and emphasis on team performance, and in 2021 the University of Fribourg awarded him an honorary doctorate for combining "outstanding economic success with social responsibility", explicitly citing his defence of Sika's independence and his push for sustainability at Holcim.

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Career

💼 Rise through the ranks at Sika. Jenisch joined Swiss specialty chemicals company Sika AG in 1996, beginning a more than two-decade career with the group that took him through multiple operational and regional leadership roles. Over the 2000s he headed Sika's Industry division and later managed its Asia-Pacific business from 2007 to 2012, experiences that exposed him to fast-growing emerging markets and complex supply chains across automotive, construction and infrastructure customers. This combination of divisional and regional responsibilities helped establish his reputation as an operator comfortable with both product innovation and geographic expansion.

🏭 Chief executive of Sika and takeover battle. In January 2012 Jenisch was appointed chief executive officer of Sika, where he pursued an aggressive growth strategy focused on expanding in emerging markets, broadening the product range and tightening cost discipline. Under his leadership Sika's sales and profits grew strongly, its share price significantly outperformed the Swiss Market Index and its market capitalisation more than tripled within five years, performance that earned him the title of Swiss "Manager of the Year" in 2016 from business media in his adopted home country. His tenure was defined as much by defence as by expansion: when Sika's founding family agreed in 2014 to sell a controlling stake to French group Saint-Gobain, Jenisch led management and minority shareholders in a high-profile campaign to block the deal, framing it as a threat to Sika's culture and long-term strategy and helping to secure a negotiated outcome that preserved the company's independence.

🏢 Move to LafargeHolcim amid post-merger turbulence. In 2017, after more than twenty years at Sika, Jenisch was recruited to lead LafargeHolcim, the world's largest cement producer created from the 2015 merger of France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim, at a time when the combined group was struggling with integration issues and a mounting scandal over Lafarge's past operations in Syria. The previous chief executive had resigned following revelations that Lafarge officials had authorised payments to armed groups during the Syrian civil war, leaving the board seeking an outsider to the two legacy companies but an insider to the building materials sector who could stabilise the business and repair its reputation. Jenisch took over as CEO in October 2017 with what analysts described as a mandate to restore growth, simplify the organisation and reset governance and culture at the merged entity.

🧱 Restructuring and portfolio reshaping at Holcim. Once in charge, Jenisch embarked on a sweeping reorganisation of the roughly 70,000-employee group, introducing a leaner operating model, delegating more responsibility to country and regional heads and breaking down the informal silos that had persisted between the former Lafarge and Holcim businesses. Contemporary accounts noted that he changed out a large share of the top management, reportedly replacing up to 200 senior executives and bringing in trusted colleagues from Sika to instil a more performance-driven, decentralised culture. Strategically, he sought to move Holcim away from being seen primarily as a bulk cement producer towards a provider of higher-margin building solutions, which entailed both divesting slower-growth or non-core assets and investing in new product lines.

📈 Acquisitions, divestments and sustainability agenda. Under Jenisch, Holcim exited a number of markets, most notably selling its Indian subsidiaries Ambuja Cements and ACC to the Adani Group in 2022 in a deal worth more than US$6 billion, while simultaneously focusing capital on North America and Europe. The group pursued an intensive acquisition programme that over six years added more than 130 mainly bolt-on deals in areas such as roofing, insulation and adhesives, including the 2021 purchase of Firestone Building Products and later Malarkey Roofing Products in the United States, which rapidly made Holcim a major global player in roofing systems and building envelope solutions. These moves contributed to record results, with the company reporting CHF 26.8 billion in net sales and all-time-high operating profits in 2021, while also roughly halving its debt leverage compared with pre-merger levels. In parallel, Jenisch placed sustainability at the centre of Holcim's strategy, launching low-carbon products such as EcoPact concrete and EcoPlanet cement, investing in recycling and carbon capture technologies and securing the first science-based net-zero target in the cement industry approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, alongside a 2021 corporate rebranding from LafargeHolcim to Holcim that was presented as signalling a break with past controversies.

🌎 Spin-off of North American operations into Amrize. By the mid-2020s Holcim's North American business had become the group's largest profit contributor, with revenues roughly doubling from about US$6 billion to US$12 billion within four years, leading Jenisch to argue that it was "too successful to be a subsidiary" and would create more value as a stand-alone company. In June 2025 Holcim completed the spin-off of its United States and Canadian operations into a separately listed firm named Amrize, a neologism evoking "ambition" and "rising", with shares trading on both the New York Stock Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange and distributed to Holcim shareholders on a one-for-one basis. The new company debuted with an estimated market capitalisation of around US$30 billion, immediately becoming North America's largest cement producer and the second-largest commercial roofing provider, while Holcim shareholders overwhelmingly backed the separation. Jenisch stepped down as CEO of Holcim and assumed the dual role of chairman and CEO of Amrize, presenting it as a growth-oriented "solutions" partner for customers on projects ranging from major infrastructure schemes to flagship corporate campuses and setting medium-term targets for 8–11 per cent annual earnings growth driven by organic expansion and further industry consolidation.

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Financials and wealth

💰 Executive compensation and shareholdings. As chief executive and later chairman of Holcim, Jenisch received remuneration that placed him among Switzerland's highest-paid corporate leaders, culminating in a 2024 package estimated at about 48 million Swiss francs (roughly US$57 million), largely reflecting the vesting of long-term share and option awards tied to the company's performance. The payout, which made him the best-remunerated executive among the constituents of the Swiss blue-chip index in that year, drew criticism from proxy advisers such as Ethos, who highlighted that his variable compensation was around 25 times his base salary and argued that such a ratio was "unacceptable", even though a large majority of shareholders nevertheless approved Holcim's advisory vote on executive pay. Having been granted substantial blocks of stock options from 2020 onwards, he accumulated a meaningful equity stake in Holcim, and through the share distribution in the Amrize spin-off he also became a significant shareholder in the new North American group; analysts have estimated his personal wealth in the high tens of millions of U.S. dollars, although he has not featured among global billionaire rankings.

📊 Board mandates and industry roles. Beyond his executive positions, Jenisch has held a variety of board and advisory roles, including non-executive directorships at Swiss industrial company Schweiter Technologies and private glass manufacturer Glas Trösch, reflecting his standing in the wider manufacturing sector. He served as president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association from 2021 to 2023 and has been a member of the European Round Table for Industry as well as the executive committee of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, using these platforms to advocate for decarbonisation and circular construction models. In 2023 he assumed the unusual combined role of CEO and chairman at Holcim to oversee the Amrize separation but declined to receive an additional chairman's fee during this period, a concession aimed at tempering governance concerns over the temporary concentration of power. As chairman and CEO of Amrize, his future compensation structure has been signalled as strongly performance-linked, continuing the emphasis on share-based incentives that characterised his time at Holcim.

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Personal life

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family and leadership philosophy. Jenisch is married with two children and, at around 1.88 metres (6 feet 2 inches) tall, is often described as an imposing figure whose physical presence contrasts with a generally calm and even-tempered demeanour in meetings. In interviews he has characterised his leadership style as a balance between "Hercules" and "Buddha", arguing that an executive should avoid becoming a bottleneck in decision-making and instead operate in a reflective "Buddha mode" for most of the time, listening carefully to colleagues and empowering teams while reserving more forceful intervention for critical moments. Former associates credit this approach with helping him knit together disparate corporate cultures at Sika, Holcim and Amrize, maintaining high performance expectations without resorting to overtly authoritarian tactics.

⛷️ Lifestyle, sports and academic engagement. Away from the office, he is known as an enthusiastic sportsman who has maintained his passion for tennis from his university days and also enjoys skiing and hiking in the Swiss Alps, using early mornings for exercise despite the frequent transatlantic travel required by his roles with Holcim and Amrize. He has tended to keep a relatively low public profile compared with some high-profile chief executives, rarely commenting on partisan political issues and instead focusing on business and sustainability topics, while maintaining links with academia through guest lectures and mentoring activities at institutions such as the University of Fribourg. Colleagues and observers often describe his personal style as combining German straightforwardness with Swiss discretion, underpinned by an international outlook shaped by his studies and long engagement with global markets.

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Controversies and criticism

⚖️ Handling of the Lafarge Syria affair. One of the most sensitive issues on Jenisch's agenda when he arrived at LafargeHolcim in 2017 was the continuing fallout from the so-called Syria affair, in which Lafarge had been accused of making payments to armed groups to keep a cement plant operating during the Syrian civil war before the merger. Although the events pre-dated his tenure, he was responsible for overseeing internal investigations, strengthening compliance systems and cooperating with authorities in France and elsewhere, while seeking to reassure investors and employees that the combined group was drawing a clear line under past misconduct. Over the following years Lafarge S.A. faced civil and criminal proceedings, including a guilty plea in 2022 in the United States to charges related to supporting designated terrorist organisations, underscoring the reputational challenges that Jenisch had to manage even as he focused on strategy and integration.

🌱 Strategic debates over portfolio and climate claims. Jenisch's reshaping of Holcim's portfolio attracted both praise and criticism, particularly in relation to the sale of the Indian businesses, which some industry commentators described as a "tragedy" given India's status as the world's second-largest cement market and the strong profitability of Ambuja and ACC. Critics argued that, in pursuing an "asset-light" model and emphasizing North American and roofing activities, he risked weakening Holcim's position in high-growth emerging economies, while supporters contended that reinvesting proceeds into higher-margin, lower-carbon segments was strategically sound. Environmental groups and some academics have also questioned the extent to which Holcim's green product branding and net-zero commitments under his leadership represented genuine transformation rather than "greenwashing", pointing to the difficulty of decarbonising clinker-based cement; Jenisch responded by highlighting investments in alternative materials, recycling and carbon capture and by arguing that making sustainable products commercially attractive was essential for systemic change.

📉 Governance structure and market valuation. The combination of CEO and chairman roles that Jenisch held at Holcim from 2023 drew scepticism in Swiss corporate governance circles, where such dual mandates are generally discouraged because of the concentration of oversight and executive authority in a single individual. Company representatives presented the arrangement as a temporary measure to provide continuity and clear accountability through the complex Amrize spin-off, and shareholders later approved proposals to separate the roles again once the transaction was completed. Some former insiders and commentators have additionally suggested that he relied heavily on a close inner circle, including several former Sika colleagues, which they felt could marginalise dissenting views, even as the company reported record earnings and de-leveraging. Despite the operational improvements, Holcim's share price during parts of his tenure remained below the peaks reached in the early 2010s, prompting questions from critics about whether the stock market was fully convinced by the strategic pivot; management countered by emphasising metrics such as rising dividends, including an 11 per cent increase proposed for 2024, and the strong shareholder support—close to unanimity—for the Amrize spin-off.

💸 Pay debate and broader social scrutiny. Jenisch's high compensation has itself become a subject of public debate in Switzerland, with the 2024 package in particular cited by some shareholder advocates as emblematic of an "elephant race" among top managers for ever-higher pay levels that were, in their view, difficult to reconcile with broader social expectations. Holcim's board defended the remuneration structure by stressing the linkage between payouts and multi-year value creation, the reduction in leverage and increased cash returns to investors, and noted that shareholders had endorsed the pay report with a large majority at successive annual general meetings. In other stakeholder areas, Jenisch has aligned with mainstream European corporate positions, supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives internally and backing international climate goals without adopting a notably activist public persona, and there have been no reports of personal misconduct or political scandal affecting his career; scrutiny of his leadership has instead focused on strategic trade-offs, environmental impacts and the distribution of rewards from the companies he has led.

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Other activities and recognition

🏅 Honours and professional reputation. Over the course of his career Jenisch has received a series of honours that reflect both his financial results and his influence on the construction materials industry, including being named Swiss "Manager of the Year" by different business publications in 2016, for his performance at Sika, and again in 2019, for his early impact at LafargeHolcim. The University of Fribourg's honorary doctorate in 2021 praised his ability to combine shareholder value creation with social responsibility, particularly in relation to his defence of Sika's independence and his promotion of sustainability at Holcim. Within the sector he has been regarded as a leading voice on decarbonisation and innovation, invited to speak at industry and policy forums around Europe and North America.

🌐 Cosmopolitan profile and philanthropy. A German national who has spent most of his professional life in Switzerland while leading companies with global footprints, Jenisch is fluent in German and English and has working knowledge of French acquired through his dealings with Lafarge and wider European partners. His choice of the name "Amrize" for Holcim's North American spin-off was presented as embodying ambition and upward momentum in a region he views as central to future growth, and he has maintained a residence near Zug, close to Holcim's Swiss headquarters, where he enjoys the relative privacy of alpine life. While keeping most philanthropic activities low-profile, he has supported educational initiatives and mentoring programmes linked to his alma mater and industry networks, and is frequently described by colleagues as quick to credit the efforts of his "20,000 teammates" when discussing corporate achievements, underscoring a collegial ethos that complements his reputation as a decisive deal-maker.

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