Manuel Llop of Madrid, Spain, was named President and CEO of Giant Cement Holding, Inc. Llop will oversee all of the company's subsidiaries, including Giant Cement Co. and Giant Resource Recovery Co. in Harleyville, S.C.; Keystone Cement Co. in Bath, Pa.; and the company's lightweight aggregate and block business. Llop replaces Terry Kinder who retired at the end of 2003.

Llop, who is fluent in five languages, has more than 26 years of worldwide cement experience, He spent 16 years as managing director of FLSmidth in France, Mexico, and Spain and 10 years as consultancy contract manager with UK-based Blue Circle Cement.

Giant's parent company, Spain's Cementos Portland Valderrivas, is investing nearly $120 million to modernize the Harleyville cement plant.