Siemens designates new CEO for ASEAN

German industrial giant Siemens AG has designated its new chief executive officer (CEO) who will be supervising its operations in the Southeast Asian region, including the Philippines.

The ASEAN CEO of the Munichheadquartered multinational firm is Dr. Thai Lai Pham, who is also simultaneously given assignments as chief executive of Siemens Singapore and Vietnam.

He is taking over a post vacated by Dr. Armin Bruck, who will be retiring from the German industrial giant after 32 years of noteworthy service.

The new ASEAN CEO started his career with Siemens in 1997, having his take-off point from the company’s corporate research unit in Princeton in the United States.

Eventually, he moved to various assignments and positions in the company – including those on corporate strategy, product development, and then sales and management roles in the defunct mobile phones division of the firm.

Other posts he held on to in the German conglomerate include those on health care, energy and building technologies across continents that included the US, Europe and Asia.

In an announcement to the media, Siemens noted that while serving as CEO of Vietnam, Dr. Pham “has grown the business and led Siemens to become a key infrastructure partner for the country.”

Among the ventures he helped advance to successful completion include those on VinFast which is a private automotive start-up in Vietnam; the Trung Nam solar park which the company had equipped with electrical balance of plant solution.

“In his new role as Siemens ASEAN’s CEO, Dr. Pham will help to sharpen the company’s industrial core of digital industries, smart infrastructure and mobility businesses in the region,” the German firm said.

The Southeast Asian region is seen as a key market for the German company – and is being positioned as a significant growth market for its digitalization solutions as well as those on energy and other infrastructure installations. (Myrna M. Velasco)