Dr.Thanong Bidaya is a distinguished professor of NIDA Business School. He is also the former Dean of NIDA Business School and Thailand’s former Finance Minister and Commerce Minister. In the private sector he was Chairman of Thai Airways International, as well as the President of Thai Military Bank PLC, now known as TMB Bank. At present, he has become Chairman of TTW PLC, Xayaburi Power Company Limited, CK Power PLC and Thaisri Insurance PLC. With his academic interests, he has been appointed visiting professor at Graduate Research Institute of Public Studies (GRIPS) in Japan. He studied Economics at Yokohama National University. He then continued his graduate studies in the United States and completed his M.A. in Economics and Ph.D. in Management from Northwestern University. He also has Honorary Doctorate from Yokohama National University.

Mr. SuphachaiChearavanont is the Vice Chairman of Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group and President & CEO of True Corporation Plc. At CP Group, he chairs various management committees to oversee group wide strategies, policies, as well as implementations that relate to sustainable development and corporate communications. He manages the company under the principle of “knowledge, integrity and giving.” He was instrumental in establishing True Plookpanya (planting wisdom), which brings together communication 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. In June 2015 Mr. SuphachaiChearavanont was presented with the “2015 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Telecom CEO of the Year” award at The Asia Pacific ICT Awards in Singapore for his leadership and outstanding achievements in developing the telecommunications industry within the Asia Pacific region. In the same month, he was elected President of The Telecommunications Association of Thailand under The Royal Patronage.