CXL LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE
The Cambodia Excellence Label™ (CXL) is guided by a strong and transparent leadership and governance framework bringing together visionary founders, experienced coordinators, and independent experts at both the local and global levels, committed to advancing the Global Goals and CSR Excellence across Cambodia.
CXL has benefited from the guidance and leadership of Oknha Dr. HAY Ly Eang (Chairman of PPM Laboratories, Confirel, and the Kinal Foundation; recognized as a “Leader of Change in Market Growth” by UNIDO) and Dr. Jacques MARCILLE (CEO of Kulara Water; Winner of the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards in the Responsible Business Leadership category), whose outstanding commitment to excellence and responsible best practices lies at the heart of CXL. CXL also advances its mission, guided by the enduring values of Prof. Dr. AT KHEN Paul (Calmette Hospital), whose vision of development emphasizes inclusion, responsibility, and the principle that true progress must leave no one behind.
Coordination Team
Oversight & Leadership. Led by Nimith Chheng (Co-Founder of the label) and Bunthoeun Neab (Operations Manager), the Coordination team brings together committed professionals dedicated to the UN SDGs and CSR Best Practices.
Mandate. The Coordination Team promotes and strengthens recognition and value for the CSR Impact and Accreditation Program, coordinates and supports each applicant’s journey, and provides operational support to the Evaluation Committee, as well as progress reporting to the Patronage Board & Council, Official Sponsors, and Early Supporters. The Coordination Team is also responsible for translating, when needed, application materials submitted in Khmer, ensuring international judges can properly assess each organization’s initiatives and programs.
Integrity & independence. To prevent conflicts of interest, the Coordination team and the Label’s Co-Founder do not participate in the accreditation’s scoring and deliberation. Their role remains strictly communications- and promotion-focused, facilitative, and administrative to ensure a fair, and transparent experience for every applicant to the accreditation scheme.
Evaluation Committee
The CXL Accreditation is granted by an independent Evaluation Committee of three judges, recognized thought leaders from Cambodia and abroad with deep expertise in governance and strategy, CSR/ESG frameworks, quality management, policy making, and business transformation. Each application is assigned to a panel of three judges for a rigorous, transparent review based on documented evidence and measurable outcomes. Conflicts of interest are screened to protect impartiality, and deliberations focus on the applicant’s governance, integration, results, and improvement plan across the economic, social, and environmental pillars. The committee’s consensus determines the accreditation outcome and star rating, ensuring decisions are fair and transparent.
Patronage Board and Council
The Label’s CSR Impact and Accreditation Program, Eligibility Criteria, Accreditation Framework, Judging Process, and Evaluation Committee are overseen by a Patronage Board & Council, an integrated, independent body of six thought leaders and recognized experts of the SDGs and CSR Best Practices in Cambodia and abroad.
The Board and Council uphold the Cambodia Excellence Label™’s program, its mission, vision, and core values, and safeguard the integrity of its eligibility standards.
Label's co-founder
From Phnom Penh to Paris, Stuttgart and beyond. Behind the Cambodia Excellence Label™ (CXL) is Nimith CHHENG, a Khmer-French, multi-award-winning Senior Advisor in Corporate Communications, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Reputation and Risk Management. At the global level, Nimith CHHENG has served as Senior Advisor to the Presidency or Board of Directors of several international and publicly listed companies, including Nestlé Group, Nestlé Waters, Icade Group, Omnium Nord Africain (ONA), Lafarge, Cible Group, MPO Group, and Renault Group. He also acted as Head of Communications, Partnerships and International Development at the German NGO Human Connection gGmbH, based in Stuttgart.
In Cambodia, Nimith has co-founded several companies (Synergies publiques, Le Spinoza, Globalstream, Mangoprint) and held multiple leadership roles with local organizations including Master Artisans, Collective Asian Markets, Paradox, and Management Insider, among others. He has also served as Senior Advisor to industry-leading champions of sustainable development, including Eau Kulen, Cambodia’s No. 1 Natural Mineral Water (2018–2024), and Oknha Dr. Hay Ly Eang (Investco Holding, PPM Laboratories, Confirel, Kinal Foundation), fostering strategies that align industry dominance with CSR, community development, inclusive performance and growth, and environmental stewardship.
Over two decades of unrelenting CSR commitment and leadership. Recognized among France’s early pioneers of sustainable development and CSR, Nimith CHHENG has advanced responsible best practices and driven recognition and market value across 20+ industries in more than ten countries in Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia. For over 20 years, he has shown consistent commitment to leading and promoting CSR programs and voluntary initiatives, conducting CSR impact audits, and serving as an independent assessor and judge, including for the EuroCham Cambodia Annual CSR Awards. In 2001, Nimith CHHENG contributed to Caisse des Dépôts’ first survey on French business leaders’ understanding of sustainable development and its business value. In 2002, he authored a thesis exploring Corporate Social Responsibility as a self-regulation model for businesses, using EDF (France’s national electricity company and one of the world’s largest energy producers) as a case study. In 2004, he was appointed Honorary Member of the first ESSEC think tank on sustainable development, established under the patronage of the French Senate.
Honoring Cambodia’s pathway to excellence. Co-founder of the Cambodia Excellence Label™, his ambition, shared with the label’s founding partners, is to honor local businesses committed to meaningful progress and the advancement of the UN Global Goals, raise awareness of their universal, interconnected targets, and support recognition, across Cambodia and beyond, of every business’s pathway to excellence.