The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has elected MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga as its Chair for the next term. Banga, who has served as ICC’s First Vice-Chair since June 2018, becomes ICC Chair with immediate effect, succeeding Paul Polman who becomes ICC Honorary Chair, having served as Chair for the past two years, according to a press release. Yassin Al Suroor, founder and the Executive Chairman of A’amal group was re-elected as Vice Chair. Maria Fernanda Garza, CEO of Orestia and current Board member, elected as ICC First Vice-Chair – making her the first woman to hold this position. The election was held at the annual ICC World Council virtual Meeting held on June 24. Banga said, “In this challenging time, I intend to build on the work underway at ICC and to ensure that the organisation, on behalf of business globally, continues to lead in promoting greater prosperity and opportunity for all, which includes being a crucial voice in the re-building of a sustainable and inclusive global economy.” Prior to joining Mastercard, Mr Banga served as Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup Asia Pacific. He served as a member of United States’ President Barack Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity and a past member of Obama’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. Banga is also a member of the board of overseers of the Weill Cornell Medical College, and a director of Dow Inc. as well as a member of its compensation and governance committees. Garza has served as an ICC Executive Board member since 2014 and is the ICC Regional Coordinator for the Americas and a member of the governing body of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. A strong advocate of business ethics and corporate governance standards, Garza was Chair of ICC Mexico until June 2020 and is a former member of the International Affairs Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Labour and former member of the National Advisory Committee of ACLAN. Garza was Vice-President of the Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) and was also a member of the Compliance Committee of Infonavit. She is a Board Member of the Corporate Responsibility Alliance Alia RSE and was a member of the Corporate Responsibility Network of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD. The 2020 meeting of the ICC World Council also confirmed new members of the ICC Executive Board, making the composition of ICC’s leadership the most diverse to date in terms of gender, ethnic and regional balance. The following, newly elected Board members will begin two-year terms on July 1, 2020: The World Council meeting also saw the election of the following seven ICC Executive Board members – strengthening our leadership at the highest level with augmented geographic, ethnic and gender diversity. ·       Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammad Al-Thani (Qatar) Chair of ICC Qatar and Chair of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry ·       Sebastian Escarrer (Spain) Chair of ICC Spain and former CEO and Vice-Chairman of Melia Hotels International ·       Dario Gallina (Italy) President of the Torino Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Doctor Gallina ·       Shinta Kamdani (Indonesia) Owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Sintesa Group ·       Valentina Mintah (Ghana) Founder and former CEO of West Blue Consulting ·       Takeshi Niinami (Japan) Chief Executive Officer of Suntory Holdings Limited  ·       Jane Sun (China) CEO and member of the board of directors of Trip.com Patrick Obath (Kenya) and Harsh Pati Singhania (India) were also re-elected to serve second terms on the Executive Board.