Former banker joins Central Pattana
Central Group, the country’s l argest retail conglomerate, is seeking to further strengthen business organisation by bringing in a veteran banker to boost its top management team.
Pakorn Partanapat, formerly of Kasikornbank (Kbank), was appointed chief operating officer of Central Pattana Plc (CPN), the group’s retail development arm, on Jan 3.
Tos Chirathivat, Central Group’s chief executive, said Mr Pakorn’s primary responsibilities are to oversee sales and marketing, manage assets, and strengthen CPN’s organisational structure as the company expands as a domestic and international shopping centre.
“This will help CPN respond well to the rapid and highly competitive growth of the shopping centre industry,” he said.
Mr Tos said the shopping centre business will continue to grow and Thailand is forecast to have 18.7 million square meters of retail space this year.
With 30 shopping projects across the nation, CPN plans to open three new shopping malls this year including CentralPlaza Nakhon Ratchasima, CentralPlaza Mahachai and a second phase of Central Festival Phuket.
Mr Tos said bringing in experienced team members who understand the heart of service will strengthen and contribute a retail network that will grow even more efficiently and effectively in the future.
Before Mr Pakorn’s entrance, Central brought in many experts such as Yol Phokasub, former president of Siam Commercial Bank, Chanitr Charnchainarong, former executive vice-president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Nicolo Galante, former managing partner of McKinsey & Company and Prasarn Trairatvorakul, former governor of Bank of Thailand.
Prior to joining CPN, Mr Pakorn had extensive experience in developing new financial businesses and products, and is a respected veteran in managing and operating retail banking.
His last position before switching to retail was senior executive vice-president at Kbank, where he oversaw retail business and service networks divisions.
His many outstanding and successful endeavours included his initiation of “lifestyle banking” which revolutionised the way Kbank serviced its customers.
He also pioneered the small and medium enterprise (SME) banking, through which Kbank created different types of loans for SMEs.
Mr Tos noted that Kbank’s philosophy is that banks are not only a place to accept deposits and provide loans but also support every aspect of lifestyle related to financial activities.
This belief in particular coincides the priorities CPN has always had, to be the shopping centre of choice that meets all consumer lifestyle demands and prepared to provide activities related to these demands in one place, Mr Tos said.