Somruedee Chaimongkol

CEO
Banpu

Bangkok

“Creativity propels innovation and innovation depends on creativity. Creativity has a close connection with business success as it generates new, unique and even crazy ideas, solves problems and thinks of new possibilities."

Thai energy company Banpu, ranked as one of the Forbes Global 2000 largest public companies in the world, hired Somruedee Chaimongkol in 1983, the year of its formation. She became CFO in 2006 and was promoted to CEO in 2015 meaning she’s not far off a decade at the helm of the Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed company. She was in post in time for Banpu to launch its Greener and Smarter strategy, a major business transformation towards energy sustainability. Chaimongkol played a crucial role in setting the firm’s five-year business plan targeting continuous growth alongside increased energy sustainability, and has helped drive the company’s business direction towards investing in renewable and greener energy. In short, she’s successfully helped reshape Banpu’s direction for the future.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, she sees this transformation of the business away from coal production and distribution into versatile energy solutions as one of her most innovative career moments.

How do you define innovation?
For energy sector, innovation can encompass information technology, policy frameworks, market design, business models, finance instruments, enabling infrastructure and sector coupling or business synergy, all of which contribute to acceleration of energy transition toward a low-carbon future, which is the only way forward for all businesses in this planet.

Describe a moment in your career that you would consider to be innovative.
The time when we decided to embark on the ‘Greener & Smarter’ journey, since 2015 and is still ongoing today, where we started to turn our key investment focus to greener energy, such as gas, renewable energy, and energy technology, and later on, gave an ultimatum to cease investment in new coal assets. Such key business transformation, in which we leverage innovation and cutting- edge technology to empower our organization while always keeping pace with changing energy trends and demand in the global market, has gradually helped Banpu shift away from coal, making transition from coal producer and distributor, as we have long been referred to for the past 4 decades, to become a versatile energy solution provider as we enter the age of post-millennials.

Who do you admire for his/her approach to innovation?
Chanin Vongkusolkit, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Banpu. He is a true visionary leader who clearly reimagines the future of the company. His advice, suggestion and mentorship have always set me on the path to outline strategic plan for achieving future business goals.

How do you get out of a creativity rut?
Simply speaking, creativity propels innovation. And innovation depends on creativity. Creativity has close connection to business success as it generates new, unique and even crazy ideas, solves problems and thinks of new possibilities.

What advice would you give to the PR industry around embracing innovation?
More and more clients expect more than the ability to provide insightful and precise advice and ideas to engage the public, but the capacity for innovation. Communication competence of PR people of today and the future depend heavily on their talent and creativity in combination with advanced capabilities within areas such as technology, creativity, strategy and politics.

How would you like to see work culture, and the role of the office, evolve?
We are proud to say that “Banpu Heart” is an exemplification of corporate culture that achieves its intended results. It was launched in 2018 and has now connected and united more than 6,000 employees from various nationalities and cultures in 10 countries, where Banpu operates towards achieving a common goal. With the collaborative synergy of Banpu people, a path to build energy sustainability, which is both a challenge and a passion for them all, the company is eminently well-positioned to achieve its goal. In fact, the strong corporate culture has successfully nurtured Banpu employees and enabled them to quickly adapt to an ever-changing world in every way.

How can the PR and communications industry harness innovation to make more progress on diversity, equity and inclusion?
It’s important to make people realized that innovation requires a mix of people and behaviors. DEI is integral to business, part of the organizational ecosystem and the responsibility of everyone – and in turn, it should be communicated authentically, naturally and in a human way.