The man in the middle

A 47-year-old executive with a enviable track record in marketing, Thana Thienachariya recently took the helm of a new venture under the auspices of Siam Commercial Bank. He now serves as the chairman of the executive committee of Digital Ventures, the bank’s new fintech initiative, and also acts as an adviser to the SCB chairman.

Now back working full-time, he counts his work with Digital Ventures and SCB as one of the three things that make him happiest in life, the others being a good father to his daughters and teaching at the Academy of Business Creativity or ABC as it more commonly known. 
“My happiness comes from being meaningful to others,” Thana tells the Sunday Nation.
At SCB and Digital Venture, Thana serves as the bridge between the traditionalists of the old banking world and the young generation. 
“I love being the middle man,” he says with a smile, adding that his marketing experience from working with a wide variety of industries as well as his teaching role with ABC Academy, have allowed him to build strong relationships with young talents. 
“This helps a lot in facilitating understanding between young people and the bankers.” 
His aim, he says, is to play a key role in helping the bank transit from strict financial services to a lifestyle business that responds to the needs of Gen Y, who will soon make up the majority of the working population. 

Digital Ventures, which has been in operation since early this year, was initiated as a means of allowing the bank to test and try innovations and new business ideas before formally integrating them with its services. Thana has been on board since the early days. 
It has meant a considerable change to the laid-back working life he had enjoyed for the previous three years, when he provided part-time consultancy services to several companies with diverse business interests. Now he is on board with SCB four days a week, reserving the fifth day for his business coaching role at ABC Academy. 
His interests, he says, focus more on human resources than digital technology and new media, and it is this aspect of his professional life that is of value to SCB. 
“At Digital Ventures, my role as the head of HR is to hire skilled experts to work together and make the company a success,” he says. “I am not there to set key performance indicators but to develop innovations that benefit the bank. The scope of my job is very wide and I spend a great deal of time talking with all departments in the bank to learn about their different needs so that we can develop what is most meaningful for them. 

“In effect, we work as a laboratory, trying and testing new things for the bank,” he says, 
Fintech is a new adventure for both the bank and for Thana himself. He does not pretend to understand fintech. His talent lies in finding and recruiting people who do. “My sphere is marketing and financing. I need to know the consumer and hear their voices. But on the bottom line, basic marketing strategies are common to many different business areas, even banking.”
Indeed, it has long been a joke in the marketing world that once you have successfully marketed a product or service, the customer will believe everything you say. And while this is more illusion than reality, it helps Thana to have confidence in himself. 
“Actually, I do not know a lot about digital technology. I am just an average person with plenty of common sense. I have my own personal brand, I have a good financial model but above all I know a lot of people and that gives me the connections to find out about things I need to know,” he says. 
And there’s no doubt that Thana’s skills lie in developing financial models. As a consultant to several finance-related businesses, he understands banks and their needs. “I love to propose ideas and challenge other ideas. That’s why I like consulting work so much,” he explains. 
“My challenge in working with the bank is adjusting myself to the regulations.” 
Thana has never aspired to be a big boss, explaining that he prefers to stay behind the scenes pushing his ideas and hoping that they are picked up. 
“I don’t like messing up relationships because I happen to hold a superior position. I am very sensitive to human interaction,” he says. 
“I firmly believe in finding the right balance. Being too busy is not good, nor is having too much free time. I’m in a good place now with my work at SCB,” he 
concludes.