MKS PAMP prides itself in having experienced team members and recognized experts in the precious metals market. People are the main asset of the organisation. Here are some of the individuals who are helping shape the success of the group on a daily basis.

MKS PAMP

1 MKS PAMP


Based in Geneva, Switzerland

MKS PAMP is the main pillar of the MKS PAMP GROUP, providing the world's most extensive range of durable, innovative and responsibly sourced precious metals products and services. 

Marwan Shakarchi

Marwan Shakarchi

CEO

CEO of MKS PAMP since 1983 and member of the Executive Management Committee, he has developed the company into a leading integrated precious metals group. Marwan, who graduated from The Wharton School of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Multinational Enterprises, regularly shares his expertise on the gold and precious metals market as a keynote speaker throughout the industry and in front of leading financial institutions, forums and journalists. He was a primary member of the Task Force Committee to prepare a report on commodities markets for the G20 summit in Paris in 2011. He is also an international consultant to the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

 

Karma Shakarchi-Liess

Karma Liess-Shakarchi

Chairman

Chairman of MKS PAMP and Member of the Executive Management Committee since 1981. Karma is responsible for the treasury and risk management activities. She has been an integral part of the MKS PAMP team for years, and thanks to her long-term thinking and attention to detail, the group expansion policy has reached its objectives. Karma holds a License in Philosophy from Paris 1 Sorbonne University.

 

Omar Liess

Omar Liess

Head of Business Development & Group Head of Marketing

Head of Business Development and Group Head of Marketing as well as being a member of the Executive Management Committee since 2018. Omar previously worked in the Netherlands as an internal controller for the MKS PAMP GROUP and was instrumental in the repositioning of the group’s digital strategy. During his time with MKS PAMP GROUP, he also started an alternative investment initiative.

Omar serves as Chairman of the board of GOLD AVENUE SA, an ecommerce platform focused on physical precious metals. Additionally, he serves on the Board of director of Pandion mine finance, a fund structure vehicle that provides financing to mining companies. He is also a board member of MKS PAMP Hong Kong. Omar graduated from the European Business School in London with a bachelor’s degree in International Business with a major in Finance.

Saji Jabbour

Chief Financial & Technology Officer

Chief Financial & Technology Officer of MKS PAMP since 2020. Over the past 10 years, Saji has led Audemars Piguet as CFO, CIO and Head of Customer service, where he progressively grew into larger and more strategic roles. Prior to that, Saji spent 10 years at Novartis in Finance roles for Operations and Commercial. Saji holds a Master’s degree from EPFL in Microtechnics and an MBA from INSEAD.

Jay Schnyder

Head of Refining 

Head of Refining since 1988. Jay travels extensively to Latin America and Africa to visit mine sites and perform due diligence assessments. Thanks to his in-depth expertise of the Refining and Mining industry he regularly participates as distinguished speaker in conferences around the globe as well as in panels orchestrated by the World Economic Forum. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Lausanne University and followed an executive Finance Business course at Harvard University.

Joseph Stefans

Head of Trading 

Head of Trading since 2019. Joe has worked in the precious metal industry for HSBC over the last 13 years, starting in operations in New York and eventually moving to London holding various dealing positions in the front office eventually overseeing EMEA Metals trading in 2016.  He has served on the LPPM management committee from 2016 to 2019 as well as the LBMA Public Affairs Committee from 2015 through till today. He received a B.A. in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross in 2006.

Nicky Shiels

Head of Metals Strategy

Nicky has worked in the financial industry since 2007 as a commodities desk strategist where she gained invaluable expertise in the precious and base metals markets. During her tenure at a leading North American financial institution, Nicky established and grew their metals strategy platform through the composition of topical research, and provided integral outlooks for a broad range of market participants. She has actively presented at key conferences and industry events and is a regular media contributor. Nicky holds a degree in Economics (B.A) from Yale University.

Bernard Sin 

Regional Director, Greater China  

Regional Director of Greater China since 2020, and previously Head of Trading. Bernard joined MKS PAMP as a country representative of Singapore in 1996 and moved to Switzerland in 1997. He holds an MBA in International Business from the European University in Geneva. Prior to joining MKS PAMP, Bernard worked 6 years for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and Hong Kong as an FX and Bullion Dealer.

Afshin Nabavi 

Head of Physical Sales  

Head of Physical Sales since 1993. He joined MKS PAMP as a trainee in 1982 and worked within different departments of the group, providing him with an all-embracing understanding of the precious metals industry. Afshin is broadly experienced in the trading market, particularly in all aspects of physical trading. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Webster University, Geneva.

Priscilla Calmes  

Head of Human Resources  

Head of Human resources since 2018. Priscilla has an in-depth experience in Human resources management gained in HR management positions in banking, food industry, higher education and international organisations. She regularly teaches HR professionals within the framework of the studies for the federal certificate specializing in personnel management. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in Business Administration, both from Geneva University.

Jérôme Cambazard  

Head of Treasury and Operations  

Head of Operations since 2017. Jérôme joined MKS PAMP in 2012 and worked as Head of Operations at MKS PAMP Dubai for 2 years before taking the position of Group Financial Controller at MKS PAMP GROUP in Amsterdam. Prior to joining MKS PAMP, Jérôme worked 5 years with Ernst & Young for financial and regulatory audit in the banking and financial industries. He holds a master’s Degree in Financial Management from Grenoble School of Management and is a Swiss Certified Public Accountant.

Olivier Demierre  

Head of Corporate Social Responsibility  

Olivier heads the MKS PAMP Corporate Social Responsibility function since November 2012. In that capacity, Olivier has led a number of responsible sourcing initiatives and participated actively in all major industry wide responsible sourcing initiatives and forums (he is a member of the Multi Stakeholder Group of the OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, a member of the Board of the Swiss Better Gold Association, member of the Governance Committee of the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade). Olivier joined MKS PAMP in 2000. Before that, he gained in-depth experience in the Banking and Finance sectors with management positions in the audit and business advisory as well as bank operations areas. Olivier is a Swiss Certified Accountant since 1992. 

Zeina Al Kharfane

Head of Middle Office

Head of Middle Office since 2023. Zeina joined MKS PAMP in 2013 where she gained extensive cross-functional capabilities. Zeina is responsible for monitoring credit and operational risks as well as the master data management. She holds a master’s degree in international management from HEC Geneva.

Jacqueline Mayor Meylan   

Head of Compliance  

Head of Compliance since 2021, and Head of Finance and Compliance since 2009. Jacqueline is responsible for anti-money laundering and supply chain due diligence as well as the implementation of responsible sourcing practices within the Group. She has led the drafting of the LBMA Responsible Gold Guidance as well as the development of the LBMA best practice due diligence toolkit. She is also a member of the Accreditation and Certification Committee of the Responsible Jewellery Council. She is as well responsible to provide leadership, operational oversight and system coordination of financial information. Prior to joining MKS PAMP, Jacqueline worked 10 years with Ernst & Young as Senior Manager for financial and regulatory audit in the banking and financial industries. She holds a master’s Degree in economics from Lausanne University and is a Swiss Certified Public Accountant.

Xavier Miserez   

Head of Sales  

Head of Sales since 2019. Xavier has joined MKS PAMP in 2013, overseeing all legal matters and leading the onboarding department and client relationship, covering all upstream as well as downstream customers, trading and banking accounts. Prior to this, Xavier has worked two years for a Geneva based law firm prior to take the bar exam and another two years for Ernst & Young in a legal and regulatory department dedicated to banks and other financial intermediaries. He holds a master’s Degree in law from Lausanne University, and a Diploma of advanced studies in Commodity Trading from Geneva University.

Kulathusarma (Venkatesh) Thandaveswaran   

Group Head of IT   

Group Head of Information Technology since 2017. Venkatesh joined MKS PAMP in 1999 as Project Manager for GOLD AVENUE, where he played a key role in implementing IT Systems for precious metals online and catalogue retail business. With his in-depth knowledge in precious metals refining, manufacturing, retail and trading processes, Venkatesh is instrumental in implementing several IT systems across MKS PAMP GROUP. Since 2010, he has been driving the group’s IT strategy. Prior to this, he worked for six years in the United States and India as Systems Analyst. Venkatesh holds a bachelor’s Degree in computer science and Engineering from Sathyabama University in India.

Leah Halpren

Head of Finance

Head of Finance since 2021, Leah is responsible for operational oversight and coordination of financial information. Prior to joining MKS PAMP, Leah worked for 13 years at EY as a Senior Manager in audit services, and since 2016 as Head of Financial Statement Audit for the State of Geneva. She holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and Finance Management and is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant.




MKS PAMP Ticino

2 MKS PAMP Ticino


Located in Ticino 

MKS PAMP Ticino is the production facility and mint that produces world-renowned PAMP products, notably the Lady Fortuna. 

Phaedon Stamatopoulos

Managing Director

Phaedon is Managing Direction since 2022. He brings over 15 years of industry experience with a diverse background in operations, numerous commercial roles, and years as part of a leadership team. Phaedon holds a BA, Meng Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, and an MSc Chemical Engineering & Marketing from Imperial College London.

Mario Orsenigo

Head of Production

Mario Orsenigo is Head of Production since 2020. He joined the company in 2001 as Head of Refinery and Ecology where he led projects for MKS PAMP: installation and start up of manufacturing site of the joint venture MMTC-PAMP and MKS PAMP Hong Kong. In 2017 he obtained the Safety engineer Swiss Federal Diploma and was appointed as Head of Safety and Environment until 2020. Mario holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan.




MKS PAMP Australia

3 MKS PAMP Australia


Based in Sydney, Australia

MKS PAMP (Australia) is the trading and distribution company for the MKS PAMP GROUP which focuses on servicing the specific needs of the Australian market, including the operation and administration of the Group trading book during Asian trading hours.

Jason Cerisola

Managing director

Managing director since 2018, Jason was first Head of Trading for the Australian Office, responsible for the management of the Group's trading operations in the Asian time zone. He joined the MKS PAMP Sydney office in 1998 as a Trainee Dealer and has been involved in the development of the Group's trading business in precious metals and foreign exchange ever since. Jason and his team co-ordinate the trading and other business activities with the Group’s subsidiary offices throughout Asia and India.




MKS PAMP Hong Kong

4 MKS PAMP Hong Kong


Based in Hong Kong

MKS PAMP (Hong Kong) is the trading and distribution company for the MKS PAMP GROUP which focuses on servicing the specific needs of the Hong Kong market.

Frederick Siu

Managing Director

Frederick has more than 28 years of physical trading experience, having worked in ScotiaMocatta HK and Mitsui HK as Head of precious metals sales and marketing. Frederick received a MBA (Financial Management) at University of Hull (UK) and BA (Hons) in Accounting at London Metropolitan University (UK). He is also a certified Public Accountant (CPA) from Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) and Chartered Public Finance Accountant (CPFA) from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA UK).




MKS PAMP Singapore

5 MKS PAMP Singapore


Based in Singapore

MKS PAMP (Singapore) is the sales representation office for the MKS PAMP GROUP which focuses on servicing the specific needs of the Singaporean and south-east Asian region.

Eddie Ng

Managing Director

Having joined the company in 2009 as a bullion dealer, Eddie has since progressed through increasingly responsible roles in business development and physical trading with MKS PAMP Singapore. Eddie holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore, majoring in Finance.




MKS PAMP Malaysia

6 MKS PAMP Malaysia


Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

MKS PAMP (Malaysia) is the trading and distribution company for the MKS PAMP GROUP which focuses on servicing the specific needs of the Malaysian market.

Segar Govindasamy

Managing Director

Managing Director for MKS PAMP business in Malaysia, Segar has more than 20 years of professional experience, most of it in the banking industry having held several positions with Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, Qatar and Malaysia. Segar holds an MBA from INSEAD and earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from National University of Malaysia.




MKS PAMP Thailand

7 MKS PAMP Thailand


Based in Bangkok, Thailand

MKS PAMP (Thailand) is the sales representation office for the group which focuses on servicing the specific needs of the Thai market.

Sudarat Unakul

Managing Director

Managing Director of the Thailand office, Sudarat was significantly involved in the establishment of MKS PAMP (Thailand) in 1997 and has since built a strong business relationship with all major gold traders, especially on the precious metals physical trading via renowned services team. She studied Business Administration in the US.




MKS PAMP Shanghai

8 MKS PAMP Shanghai


Based in Shanghai, China

MKS PAMP (Shanghai), is the trading and distribution company for the MKS PAMP GROUP focuses on servicing the specific needs of the Chinese market.

Bernard Sin 

Regional Director, Greater China  

Regional Director of Greater China since 2020, and previously Head of Trading. Bernard joined MKS PAMP as a country representative of Singapore in 1996 and moved to Switzerland in 1997. He holds an MBA in International Business from the European University in Geneva. Prior to joining MKS PAMP, Bernard worked 6 years for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and Hong Kong as an FX and Bullion Dealer. Trading since 2007.