[2] Mai was born to French parents in the Cradock farming area of the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
[7] He was tasked with strengthening operations in AEA's portfolio companies, and actively working with management teams to bolster growth.
[10] His perspective has suggested that businesses and investors would be better served in a permanent capital structure, allowing management teams and shareholders to adopt a long-term operational strategy.
He serves on the boards of the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Juilliard School,[19] and is a former trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Mai is on the Global Partners Council of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and formerly chaired the board of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center.
[20] In 2009, Mai was honoured at the National Leadership Awards, a dinner co-sponsored by the Merage Foundation for the American Dream and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
[21] In December 2012, Mai was honoured at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights' Ripple of Hope Awards Dinner.
[23][24] Springboks Rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi was the 75th beneficiary of the bursary scheme, which allowed him to attend Grey High School in Port Elizabeth.
[26] Mai and his family purchased farmland in the Camdeboo plains, in the Karoo region of South Africa, as an environmental restoration project.