Vanchai
Chirathivat Vanchai has an honorary doctorate degree in Commerce and Accountancy from Thammasat University in 1990. The Central Group was founded by Vanchai’s father, the late Tiang Chirathivat, a poor Chinese immigrant from Hainan, China who came to Siam in 1927. He set up a small grocery store in Thon Buri. In 1947, on Charoen Krung Road, he established Thailand’s first modern department store. More branches soon followed. In 1956, Tiang’s eldest son, Samrit Chirathivat expanded his father’s merchandise business with the establishment of the first Central Department Store in Wangburapha, Bangkok. Since then, Central Retail Corporation introduced many firsts in Thailand’s retail industry such as opening Thailand’s first lifestyle specialty department store in 1990 with the opening of Zen; Thailand’s first hypermarket in 1994; and Thailand’s first upscale cosmopolitan dining hall with open kitchens, FoodLoft in 2003. As the third leader of the Chirathivat family, Vanchai thought deeply about how to keep the Chirathivat clan together as one big family. He wants to manage the assets of the Group, maintain family traditions, and attend to the welfare of the clan members. Under his leadership, a Central Group Board had been established to represent the group’s shareholders and family members, as well as to monitor the business direction of the family. Sources: http://globalbusinessleaders.org/WebPage/LeaderBio.aspx?leaderCd=l003&levelcd=c02r047 Photo credits: http://www.bangkokpost.com/annual99/directors.html  |
Vanchai Chirathivat is the Chairman and Director of Central Group
of Companies (www.centralgroupcompanies.com), a group of retail
outlets and department stores in Thailand that includes Office Depot,
Power Buy, and Homeworks. It also has interests in hotels and resorts
(http://www.centralhotelsresorts.com/). The Group also has joint
ventures with Big C Supercenter, Watson’s, Marks & Spencer.