- Title: CEO
- Organisation: Banpu Public Company
- Office headquarters: Thailand
- Company operations: Southeast Asia, China, Australia, Mongolia, Japan, and the US
- Industry: Oil, gas, resources and energy
- Employees: 3,000
Somruedee Chaimongkol recognises the importance of continuous learning and of riding trends, so it is a combination of digitisation, upskilling, and communication that she aims to implement for Banpu’s people.
Though the CEO is known as Asia’s ‘first lady of coal’, Banpu actually aims to make at least 50% of its earnings from green energy by 2025. Chaimongkol’s ‘Greener & Smarter’ strategy was among her first initiatives after taking the helm in 2015. In an interview with CNBC, she says that the company will stop investing in new coal assets within the next eight years, and instead invest in clean assets and renewable energy, gradually lowering its revenue from coal.
This company-wide transformation had to begin with serious communication with Banpu’s people, said Chaimongkol. As early as 2010, during her time as chief financial officer, there had already been talk of sustainable transformation. “Gradually, our people transformed themselves as well,” she says, adding that the company leadership believes in ‘setting the tone at the top’.
Crises like the pandemic make it all the more critical to focus on people, Chaimongkol told HC Group in 2021. “We need good, capable people in our business in order to expand vigorously, so we have focused on growing our people,” she said. Within the company are a Digital Centre of Excellence, Digital Capability Centre, and the Banpu Digital Academy, all investments toward fundamental upskilling.
“We want our people to be at the forefront of that evolution,” she says, referring to digitisation. This willingness to face and deliver on the demands of changing times through sustainable strategies is seen not only in these investments in human resources, but also in the company’s direction as a whole.
“For me, the most important thing is to strive to learn and develop continuously. That way, we can become great leaders, with vision and achievement,” she says.
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