Mr. Aimé Xhonneux led Eurobitume as their Director General from September 1, 2012 to September 1, 2018. Aimé shouldered the responsibility of helping to lead the European bitumen industry through the aftermath of the findings of the International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph 103. His inclusive and calm demeanor helped the industry synchronize their messaging and speak in a unified voice with authorities and various associations in Europe.
He worked with his membership to develop a new association model for Eurobitume expanding the scope of membership and including local representation from the former National organizations.
Aimé’s leadership also helped usher in change within Eurobitume’s committee structure. In June 2015, AI’s Director of HSE joined the Eurobitume HSE Committee as an ex-officio, non-voting member. This reciprocal move was an important one significant in the transparency between the organizations.
Amie and his team cohosted the very successful E&E Congress in 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic with the European Asphalt Paving Association (EAPA). A new format with panel sessions along with the more traditional podium technical presentations of juried papers was well received. Following this event, discussions led to the creation of the inaugural E&E Event Berlin being held in June of 2018, which is meant to keep the conversation going from the 2016 Congress and to shape the 2020 Congress in Spain.
Aimé led a number of environmental issues within Europe including the continued use of high-temperature mastic asphalts, the desire to create a differentiation between air rectified and oxidized bitumen, educating the industry on the hazards of high hydrogen sulfide exposure, developing safe handling guidelines and educational products for the industry, and so on.
Agency work and relationships continue to challenge Eurobitume and Aimé has kept pace with developments at the German MAK commission and INRS in France.
Further, under his leadership, Eurobitume has continued to improve their promotional efforts for the industry with the publication of an industry annual review and increased efforts for an effective Asphalt Advantages campaign as part of Eurobitume’s Promotion and Communication initiatives.
Eurobitume is well positioned for their future – largely in part due to the leadership of Eurobitume – of which Aimé Xhonneux has played a key role.