The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Cambodia held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Charity Gala Dinner on March 27, 2024 at the Oakwood Premier Phnom Penh, during which the election results for the chamber’s 2024 Board of Governors were announced.
A total of 13 candidates were in the running for five board positions. The five newly elected board members are:
- Casey Barnett, President, CamEd Business School
- Anthony Galliano, Group CEO, Cambodian Investment Management (CIM)
- Sok Vanseka, Managing Partner, Sethalay Law Office
- Bora Kem, Partner, Mekong Strategic Capital
- Torsten Kleine Büning, Chief Risk Officer, ABA Bank
AmCham board members each serve a two-year term, after which new members are elected. The current board has 10 members, five of whom are continuing on to their last year.
The AGM and Charity Gala Dinner was attended by H.E. Vongsey Vissoth, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in Charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers, as well as several other key ministers and leaders from the Cambodian government. Overall, around 250 AmCham members and other guests attended the event.
Raising Funds For The Development Of Cambodia’s Education Sector
Education was a major theme of AmCham’s 2024 AGM, with the evening featuring a charity lucky draw to raise funds for six education-focused NGOs: Caring for Cambodia, Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF), Indochina Starfish Foundation (ISF), The Liger Charitable Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages and United World Schools.
Prior to the AGM, AmCham announced that it had already garnered pledges exceeding USD $100,000 in scholarships. B2B Cambodia had a chance to speak with Casey Barnett, a prominent figure in Phnom Penh’s higher education scene, following his re-election on to the board, about what initiatives he hopes AmCham will see through in its ongoing engagement with the education sector.
One thing that we want to achieve is to make sure that the curriculum and training at schools is aligned with the needs of the workforce and aligned with the needs of companies, that what educators are doing is going to be practical and useful for [students] when they go out into the world.
“The government cannot provide high quality education to all Cambodians, it's just simply too expensive, so that's where the private sector and private education plays an important role, especially in higher quality specialist education. We want to work with the Royal Government of Cambodia to make sure that we can remove certain obstacles to facilitate more investment and flexibility in having private institutions provide education services,” added Barnett.
As a representative of CamEd Business School, Barnett said his involvement in the chamber can also help to contribute to AmCham’s engagement with the education sector particularly since CamEd has well-established relationships with employers, graduates, alumni and government officials.
“That’s one role we play in making sure everyone’s connected and that there is continued dialogue so that there’s an understanding of each other’s needs,” he said.
Acting As The Voice Of American Businesses In Cambodia
In addition to his active engagement in AmCham’s Education and Tax Committees, Barnett also previously served as AmCham’s Treasurer. Following his re-election, he said he hopes to see the chamber continue to practise transparency and accountability to its members, and to have a stronger member focus overall.
“I want us to have a service mindset and to make sure that we are the legitimate voice of our members, the true voice of American businesses in Cambodia,” said Barnett. “We need to make sure that we are listening to our members when we are actively collecting their concerns, their input and their recommendations, and then we need to summarise that and bring it to the Royal Government of Cambodia to share with them our members’ needs.”
