Suphachai Chearavanont

President and CEO, True Corporation Public Company Limited

Suphachai Chearavanont joined Telecom Asia (TA)–now True Corporation–in 1992 as Senior Vice President for Planning and Project Coordination & Support. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, he took charge of TA’s debt restructuring, successfully leading the company back to the market. He was appointed President & Chief Executive Officer of True Corporation Plc in 1999.

In 2005 Mr. Chearavanont staged a financial restructure and undertook the re-branding of the company from Telecom Asia to True Corporation in 2004. He oversaw the transformation of True to become a fully integrated telecommunications solutions provider and lifestyle enabler. True is now one of Asia’s leading telecoms, the only operator in Thailand offering the full range of convergence services from mobile and fixed-line phones to broadband and pay TV. Under his leadership, an important milestone for the company and industry was reached in 2013 with the establishment of Thailand’s first telecommunications infrastructure fund, TRUE Telecommunications Growth Infrastructure Fund (TRUEIF).

Mr. Chearavanont manages the company under the principle of “knowledge, integrity and giving.” He was instrumental in establishing True Plookpanya (planting wisdom), True’s CSR initiative, which brings together communications technology and innovation to enhance education for underprivileged children in 5,500 schools in remote areas across Thailand. True Plookpanya also helps to improve the quality of life for disabled members of society by facilitating access to essential communication services especially for the hearing and visually-impaired, as well as developing tools to help autistic people improve their learning and communication skills.

Mr. Chearavanont graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Finance).