AFTER putting in 14 years at HeidelbergCement Group, Kerim Tunçay has been offered the position of general manager at Union Cement Norcem (UCN).

Union Cement Norcem (UCN), is a joint venture between Union Cement Company (UCC) of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE and Norcem of HeidelbergCement Group. It was set up in 1980 to market and sell the American Petroleum Institute (API) certified oil well cement, concentrating on export markets. Tunçay, who took charge of his new assignment from September 1, will be in charge of all domestic and export sales of cement and clinker of UCC in addition to the sales of oil well cement.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1972, Tunçay has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from University of Saarland, in Saarbrucken, Germany and a Marketing Diploma from University of California, Berkeley.

Trained as an International Trader Candidate, Tunçay started his career with the cement industry in 2000 at HeidelbergCement Trading (HCT) in Istanbul. HCT is the international trading arm of the HeidelbergCement Group, which is the world’s third biggest cement manufacturer.

In 2005, has was relocated to HCT’s Oslo, Norway office as trade manager in charge of West African markets. In 2006, he became the regional manager of Mediterranean and Black Sea Basin. From 2011 onwards, Tunçay was appointed as senior trade manager for HCT’s UAE subsidiary in Dubai, in-charge of the GCC countries, East Africa, India and Sri Lanka.

Tunçay’s role as a trader at HCT involved purchasing and selling cement and related products such as clinker, gypsum and slag internationally. He has gained expertise in international commodity trading as well as dry bulk cargo shipping and logistics.

Looking forward to his new role at UCN, Tunç ay says: “Our strategy is to maintain a consistent product quality and offer the best and quickest customer service in the UAE and our export countries.”