Board work
I bring thirty years of operating experience to board decisions on strategy, capital allocation, risk and management performance. I have led businesses across Asia, Europe and North America under listed, private equity and privately held ownership. My largest role carried P&L responsibility for more than $500 million in manufacturing product revenue.
I am a dual Thai and US citizen, a Fellow Director of the Thai Institute of Directors and a graduate of its Director Certification Program. My experience includes a registered corporate directorship and leadership of business organizations in Thailand and the United States.
I have worked at both ends of an international reporting line: running country and regional businesses, and working from a European headquarters with operations across 29 countries. That experience helps me question the assumptions behind an investment proposal, examine the explanations behind reported performance and assess whether management has the resources and authority to deliver. As a non-executive director, I bring that judgment to oversight, constructive challenge and the board's collective decisions.
Where I am looking to serve
Parent boards of multinational companies
US, European and Asian groups making decisions about international investment, regional expansion and operating performance. I bring experience of how headquarters decisions translate into commitments and results across different markets.
Asia-Pacific subsidiary and joint venture boards
Businesses where local director responsibilities, shareholder expectations and group reporting must work together. My experience combines statutory accountability in Thailand with responsibility for operations across several Asian countries.
Sponsor-backed portfolio companies
Companies undertaking a turnaround, expanding internationally or managing an ownership change. I bring experience of assessing management capability, setting recovery priorities and maintaining customer and supplier confidence through restructuring.
Board, committee and institutional appointments
My appointments span a corporate directorship, a statutory business body, chambers of commerce and a bank advisory board in Thailand and the United States.
Thai subsidiary of a listed multinationalREGISTERED DIRECTOR · 2009-2012
Registered director on the local board of a listed multinational's Thai operating company. I held the seat while running the business as managing director, with responsibility for its statutory accounts, internal controls and compliance with group governance requirements. Within twelve months of taking the role, the company achieved full group governance compliance, signed off by corporate.
Board of Trade of ThailandDIRECTOR · 2010-2015
Director on the main board of Thailand's national body for commerce, established under its own Act and representing the private sector in discussions with government on trade and economic policy. I also served on its infrastructure subcommittee during consideration of the government's two trillion baht national transport program. The role involved examining matters affecting business and investment and representing business interests in discussions with government.
Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT)VICE CHAIRMAN · 2011-2017
The umbrella body for Thailand's foreign chambers and business associations since 1976, representing 31 member organizations and more than 8,000 member companies. It develops common positions on investment and operating conditions and takes them to the Thai government, covering matters from the Foreign Business Act to work permits, customs and regulatory reform. I served on its work permit and visa group and led discussions with ministries on the practical barriers companies and their employees faced. In 2014, when a draft amendment would have tightened the Foreign Business Act, the foreign chambers pressed for services to be opened instead, and the Prime Minister told them the Act would be left untouched.
Thai-Finnish Chamber of CommercePRESIDENT · 2010-2014
The bilateral chamber for Thai and Finnish business, chartered in 1992 under the Chamber of Commerce Act. During four years as president, I worked with the Ambassador and Team Finland on business delegations in both directions and on Finnish education initiatives in Bangkok's city school system. It is also one of three chambers where I ran the officer nomination and election process.
European Association for Business and CommerceFOUNDING BOARD MEMBER · 2011-2014
I helped establish the association as a common voice for European business in discussions with the Thai government. I co-drafted its founding charter, covering its composition, officer appointments and authority, and served on the committee that recruited its first Executive Director.
Palm Beach National Bank & TrustBOARD OF ADVISORS · 1999-2001
A national bank in Palm Beach, Florida, and a Federal Reserve member, with trust and fiduciary services alongside commercial lending and approximately $360 million in assets. It merged into Colonial Bank in 2002. This was an advisory appointment, not a statutory bank directorship.
Earlier serviceTHAILAND AND UNITED STATES
Advisory board member of a regional rail and transit technology conference, 2014-2015. Director, Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Palm Beaches, 2002-2004. Vice Chairman, Northern Palm Beaches Chamber of Commerce, 1995-2004. Trustee, Leukemia Society of America, 1991-2004.
Director education and qualifications
The Thai Institute of Directors was founded in 1999 following the Asian financial crisis to strengthen corporate governance and professional standards for company directors. Its founding supporters included Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Bank of Thailand and the World Bank.
Its Director Certification Program covers directors' duties, financial oversight, risk, strategy, compliance and board effectiveness. Certification requires assessment as well as course participation. I subsequently earned Fellow status through the Institute's diploma examination route.
That education complements my experience as a registered company director and an executive responsible for statutory accounts, internal controls, capital investment, leadership appointments, succession and compensation plans. It supports my work in examining management proposals, questioning assumptions and holding management accountable.
Thai Institute of Directors (IOD): Fellow Director (Class 54). Director Certification Program (DCP230, Class CEO).
Experience relevant to board and committee work
Strategy and capital allocation
I have set commercial strategy and market priorities, built businesses in new regions and taken investment proposals through group approval. These included the case for a regional headquarters, which went through two executive committees. That experience informs my assessment of the commercial assumptions, capital requirements and management capacity behind a proposed strategy.
Audit and financial oversight
As managing director of subsidiary legal entities, I was accountable for statutory accounts and internal controls. I was responsible for corrective action following group internal audit reviews and worked with external auditors through the annual statutory audit cycle. I set delegated authority, approval limits and segregation of duties across multi-site operations. That gives me practical experience of how financial reporting and controls work inside a business, and where they can fail.
Risk management
My operating responsibilities have covered manufacturing plants, supply chains, major customer relationships and cross-border exposure across six countries, three of them with plants. I have managed the effects of customer concentration, inventory commitments and uncertainty at the parent company. During a parent-company restructuring, I was responsible for the Asia-Pacific business while its entities remained outside the proceedings and continued trading. I dealt directly with senior customers and suppliers throughout.
Nomination, remuneration and governance
Recruitment and succession planning were my responsibility as managing director and as a senior executive across multiple assignments, within the organizations and functions I led. I was accountable for leadership appointments and preparing successors for key roles. Through two turnarounds, I defined the senior leadership roles, led the search and selected the people to fill them. I wrote the compensation and incentive plans at two companies, one in technology and one in industrial manufacturing. My governance experience includes co-drafting a founding charter, serving on an executive-director selection committee and running officer nomination and election processes at three chambers of commerce.
Independence and board appointments
Board appointments are held in my own name, and director fees are paid to me directly. I accept an independent directorship only where HundredEast has not advised the company within the applicable look-back period. During my tenure and for the required period thereafter, HundredEast receives no fees from the company or its group. I disclose relevant interests and relationships in writing before appointment. Independence and eligibility are assessed against the requirements applying to the company and the proposed role.
Filling a board seat, or thinking about one?
References are available on request. Introductions can be arranged, in advance.