Marc Spiegel

I am a dual Thai and US citizen, born in New York and based in Thailand for most of my career. For thirty years, I have run businesses across Asia, Europe and North America. I have run a global program from a European headquarters and led operations in Asia that reported to headquarters in Europe and the United States. I know how the same business can look different to the people reviewing the reports and the people responsible for the results.

I work in Thai, English and French. A plant manager may explain a problem in Thai while the group asks about it in French or English. I am in both conversations, and I can see where the two accounts differ and get to the decision that needs to be made.

My work in Thailand has extended beyond the companies I ran. From 2010 to 2017, I worked with prime ministers, ministers and senior officials through the committees and subcommittees where business rules were examined and changed. We brought detailed proposals and supporting evidence on work permits, visas, foreign investment and the barriers companies faced in practice. I took part in the meetings where those proposals were worked through with government, and in the follow-up needed to put them into effect. Changes to work permit and visa rules came directly from that work.

In 2014, the government also acted on our proposal to return the Board of Investment to the Prime Minister's Office. That gave the agency the standing to work across ministries on investment decisions. It is one example of what sustained work between business and government achieved.

When I first arrived in Thailand, I went to a dinner with Taiwanese businesspeople who, to my surprise, were competitors. They laughed at my question about why they were all there together and told me:

The rice bowl is big enough for everyone to eat.

I have kept that lesson with me. I go into a negotiation knowing what my side cannot give up. I also look for the room around it: terms the other side can accept and both sides can live with after the agreement is signed. It's important that both sides walk away from the table satisfied with what they're getting out of the deal. Relationships built that way have lasted well beyond the signatures on a piece of paper.

HundredEast grew out of those thirty years of operating experience, my relationships in Thailand and the perspective that comes from working across borders. I founded it to bring that judgment directly to companies making decisions here and abroad.

Outside work, my passions are wine and ice hockey. I have played in Bangkok long enough to be one of the few from the original group still on the ice, and I am a captain in the Flying Farangs Hockey League.