Board of Directors
MAXIMA Board of directors is elected by the shareholders and is made up of four types of representatives. The first type involves individuals chosen from the company shareholders. The second type involves individuals chosen from the company management, which can be both CEO and CFO who works for the company on a daily basis. The third type of representative is chosen from MAXIMA staff, can be manager or any other person who is elected by all staff. The other type of representative is chosen externally and is considered to be independent from the company.
The role of the board is to monitor the managers of the company, acting as an advocate for stakeholders. In essence, the Board of Directors tries to make sure that shareholders’ interests are well served.
Current Board Of Directors
Dr. An Bunhak
Chairman
Bunhak is a founding member of Maxima, and was appointed as Chairman of the Board since 2000. Prior to working at MAXIMA, Bunhak served as Chief of Finance at Pacific Commercial Bank from 1995 to 2000.
He earned a Doctoral Degree of Business Administration (DBA) in Management from Preston University, USA in 2009. He also holds a Master of Banking and Finance at Norton University, Cambodia, and Ateneo De Zamboanga University, the Philippines, in 2003. He obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Faculty of Business, Cambodia in 1995.
Taejun Shin
Representative of Gojo & Company, Inc / Director
Taejun is a co-founder and the CEO of Gojo & Company, Inc., Maxima’s majority shareholder. He started his career at Morgan Stanley and Unison Capital as an investment professional. While working in the sector, Taejun founded Living in Peace, an NGO, in 2007, and created the first microfinance investment fund in Japan's history in 2009. He is the Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and the youngest founding member of Endeavor Japan. The Harvard Business Review Japan Edition selected him as the 20 best CEOs under age 40.
He holds a Master of Finance, Accounting and Law from Waseda Graduate School of Finance of Waseda University, and obtained a Bachelor of Law from the Faculty of Politics and Economics of Korea University.
Sanjay Gandhi
Director
Sanjay is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Gojo & Company, Inc. He started his career as an Audit Manager in early 1900’s and afterwards, led the corporate banking at one of the largest finance companies in India for 8 years. He then joined the MFI industry in 2003, gaining significant expertise in all aspects of microfinance operations. His has conducted close to 125 MFI ratings and assessments in 29 countries and has approved more than 400 MFI rating reports, some of which were for World Bank, ADB, UNDP, Cordaid and Mercy Corps. He also has trained and mentored a number of credit and rating analysts in various parts of the world, and has held training workshops on Risk Management for many Cambodian MFI staff.
He graduated from Delhi University and holds a Chartered
Accountant (CA) qualification in India.
Pa Ponnak Rithy
Director
Rithy joined Maxima in December 2000 and has further led the institution in its now more than 20 years of stability and successes as the Chief Executive Officer since 2015. Before joining Maxima, he was an Accounting and Administration Assistant in LWS (1998-2000), a Chief of Accounting at Pacific Commercial Bank (1995-1998), and a Deputy Chief of Credit Office of the National Bank of Cambodia in Kampot province (1980-1995).
He completed his degree in Accounting, Finance and Banking in Cambodia and obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1986.
Ewa Janikowska
Independent Director
Ewa has over 20 years of experience in executive and advisory roles in the financial sector, focusing on operational, quality, risk compliance and internal audit management. She has provided services to large financial groups, banks and investment firms, and has worked for public and NGO entities. She was previously the Chief Risk Officer of Azizi Bank (2017-2020) and The First Microfinance Bank (2016-2017), both in Afghanistan.
She holds a Master of Business Administration at University of Illinois, USA and Master in Management and Marketing from Warsaw University, Poland. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner, Risk Manager, and Quality Manager and Auditor.
Christophe Forsinetti
Independent Director
Christophe is a serial entrepreneur who has founded more than 10 companies across investment, hospitality and finance sectors. His landmark projects include GL Finance which he developed into the leading leasing company in Southeast Asia, opening 250 branches with 800 employees in 3 years. He is currently the Managing Director of Strategic Hospitality REIT, a US$150m vehicle listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and Founder/Chairman of OBOR Capital Co., Ltd and OBOR Management Co., Ltd.
He obtained a Doctoral Degree and a Master Degree in Geopolitics from the University of Paris.