Kenya: Press Releases: GM’s Bill Lay Appointed President of American Chamber of Commerce in Kenya

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Nairobi, 17 November 2009 --- General Motors East Africa (GMEA) Managing Director William (Bill) Lay has been appointed President of the local chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce. This follows a meeting by the American Chamber of Commerce Kenya (ACCK) board of directors that unanimously settled on Mr. Lay to replace Dr. Nelson Githinji, who was recently appointed by President Mwai Kibaki as the State House Comptroller.   Lay will serve for a period of two years at the helm of the American body that among other things fronts the interests of American business community.   Bill Lay who is currently the CEO and Chairman of GMEA has overseen the automaker and assembler register impressive growth, making it the largest motor assembler in the East African region.   Dr. Githinji headed the ACCK from April 2008, contributing immensely to the growth of the organisation.   Lay said his priority as president of ACCK would be to push for reforms that would create an ample business and investment environment for the economic development of the country. He said this would be done through the recently launched Parliamentary Reform Caucus (PRC).   The PRC was mooted to initiate an open dialogue between business leaders and MPs regarding how to encourage activities that promote the economic development of Kenya and the achievement of key reforms.   Issues under discussion include how to improve the business environment to encourage development and investments in Kenya. The business leaders and MPs agreed that constitutional reform and good governance are critical if Kenya is to grow as an international business destination.   Other issues that featured prominently were land reforms, the equitable distribution of resources, and the passage of key pro-investment legislation such as the Anti-Money Laundering bill.   Other appointments made saw Ms. Joyce-Ann Wainaina, Director, Global Transactions Services East Africa - CITI elected the Vice President and Benjamin Musau, Senior Partner at B M Musau & Co., Advocates elected Secretary.   Mr. Deo Onyango, Commercial Development Manager, GE Corporate will head the Finance and Administration committee, Louis Otieno, Managing Director, Microsoft East Africa Ltd will chair the Audit committees. AON Minet Managing Director Joe Onsando will chair the Advocacy committee and Stavros Spyropoulos, Regional Manager East & Southern Africa, EATON Electric and Rick Davies, Director ACCK, will chair the Membership Development and Social committees respectively. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Title Comment smaller | bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Add Comment