Thaicom names chief tech officer as next CEO
THAICOM has appointed its chief technical officer Paiboon Panuwattanawong, 55, as its next chief executive officer and the company's authorised director, effective on October 1.
Paiboon, who has been with Thaicom for 23 years, will replace Suphajee Suthumpun as CEO.
Suphajee will assume the role of adviser to the chief executive in order to support her successor during the leadership transition from October 1 to the end of the year.
Suphajee yesterday said it was the right time to leave Thaicom after her contributions to many of its successes during her four-year stint as CEO.
Stepping down from Thaicom will give her more time to pursue her interest of providing advice to many new potential companies, such as social enterprises or young-generation leaders, as she believes her experience can help them to grow their businesses, she said.
Thai entrepreneurs have the capacity but might lack experience in drawing up marketing or business plans to enable them to compete in a fast-changing market, she added. She is also interested in helping Thai firms to become more internationally recognised, and to expand their presence on the global stage.
Suphajee said she was not interested in contending for the post of InTouch Holdings’ group chief executive officer. InTouch is Thaicom’s major shareholder.
The term of InTouch’s current group CEO, Somprasong Boonyachai, expires at the end of this year. Somprasong said that during the past few years, Thaicom had been implementing a succession plan in order to ensure business continuity, and that Paiboon had been identified to succeed Suphajee due to his integrity and proven leadership.
Somprasong denied rumours that InTouch’s major shareholders were unhappy with Suphajee’s performance.
Paiboon said that despite his background in engineering, Thaicom’s marketing and engineering teams had always worked together to serve customers’ demand.
Paiboon received his Bachelor’s in Engineering (Electronics) from Yale University, followed by a Master’s in Engineering (Electronics) from Carnegie Mellon University in the US. He has in-depth knowledge of the satellite business.
Thaicom announced its board’s approval of Suphajee’s resignation as CEO and appointment as adviser to her replacement in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.
The board also approved, as recommended by the company’s Governance and Nomination Committee, the appointment of Paiboon as CEO, with effect from October 1, it said in the filing.
The company currently operates the Thaicom 5, 6 and 7 broadcasting satellites and the iPSTAR broadband satellite, and has other satellite projects in the pipeline.
It is developing the Thaicom 8 satellite, of which 13 per cent of the capacity has been presold.
The company is aiming for presales of 50 per cent before launching the new satellite.
