Ms. Mai Kieu Lien steps down from her position as Chairwoman of Vinamilk.

Ms. Le Thi Bang Tam, an independent member of Vinamilk's Board of Directors and Chairwoman of HDBank, assumed this position on July 25th.

Vinamilk Joint Stock Company (Stock Code: VNM) announced on July 24th that it had elected a new Chairman after the 2015 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders passed a resolution stipulating that the Chairman of the Board of Directors cannot also hold the position of General Director.

Accordingly, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien will leave this position effective July 25, 2015, to focus on her role as CEO of the company. Ms. Le Thi Bang Tam, an independent member of the Board of Directors, has been elected as her successor.

Ms. Le Thi Bang Tam (born in 1947) has been involved in the management of Vinamilk since April 2013, alongside her role as Chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City Development Bank (HDBank). Prior to holding these important positions at the company, Ms. Tam served as Deputy Minister and Member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Finance (1995-2006), and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the State Capital Investment and Business Corporation - SCIC (2006-2008). She holds a PhD in Economics from the Leningrad University of Economics and Finance (formerly the Soviet Union) and has received an International Finance certificate from North University London (UK).

The resignation of Ms. Mai Kieu Lien (born in 1953) as Chairwoman of Vinamilk is regrettable for shareholders, but it was anticipated. Speaking at the 2015 annual general meeting, Ms. Lien stated that she was no longer representing SCIC's capital contribution in the company because, according to regulations, she had exceeded the retirement age. Furthermore, she had held both positions for many years. Therefore, this was a pivotal year for the company to train a new generation of successors to drive the company's development. However, the new Chairwoman of Vinamilk is six years older than Ms. Lien.

Vinamilk is currently one of the largest capitalized companies on the stock exchange, valued at $5.5 billion. In 2015, the company planned for revenue of VND 38,424 billion and after-tax profit of VND 6,830 billion, representing increases of 10% and 13% respectively compared to 2014; the minimum cash dividend payout ratio was 50% of after-tax profit.

According to Vnexpress