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Thiraphong Chansiri is President and CEO, Thai Union Group, effective 1995.

Thiraphong steers Thai Union’s global business and growth strategies. He has extensive experience in business management, most notably in the area of mergers and acquisitions.

Since 1995, Thiraphong has been the driving force behind Thai Union’s expansion from a business with annual revenue of approximately US$100 million to an operation with revenue of more than US$3.7 billion today.

He has managed the expansion of the company’s global brand portfolio, which includes markets-leading international brands Chicken of the Sea (U.S.), John West (U.K.), Petit Navire (France), Parmentier (France), Mareblu (Italy), King Oscar (Norway) and Rügen Fisch (Germany), and leading Thai brands Sealect, Fisho and Bellotta.

In March 2016, Thiraphong was awarded ‘No. 1 Best CEO in Thailand’ in an annual Asia’s Best Managed Companies Poll by FinanceAsia. In the same poll, Thai Union was ranked first in the categories of 'Best Managed Company in Thailand,' 'Most Committed to Corporate Governance in Thailand,' 'Best at Corporate Social Responsibility in Thailand' and 'Best at Investor Relations in Thailand'. Thiraphong was also awarded the Best CEO under the Agro & Food Industry category for the 7th consecutive year by the annual Investment Analysis Association (IAA) 2015/2016 poll.

Thiraphong joined Thai Union Group in 1988. Prior to his appointment as President and CEO, he held several executive positions within the Group.

Thiraphong received an MBA from the University Of San Francisco, California and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Assumption University, Bangkok.

His interests include marathon running, reading, and collecting works of art.

Rittirong Boonmechote is President, Global Shrimp Business Unit and related business, Thai Union Group, effective in 2014.

Rittirong joined Thai Union Group in 1993 and spearheaded the company’s initial investment in a shrimp processing facility in Samut Sakhon. The shrimp industry in Thailand was undergoing rapid growth at that time, and Rittirong was instrumental in paving the path for Thai Union to become a strong player in the Thai market.

Under Rittirong’s stewardship, the Group subsequently expanded across the entire shrimp value chain, including acquiring Thai Union Seafood in 1996, Thai Union Feed Mill in 2000, and Empress in the U.S. in 2003. He also involved in the establishment of Chicken of the Sea Frozen Food in 2006, oversaw the investment in India-based Avanti Feeds, a leading producer of shrimp-feed and shrimp products, in 2008, the acquisition of Pak Food in 2012, and a joint venture for shrimp farming in 2012.

With the creation of the new Global Shrimp Business Unit, Rittirong will lead the expansion of Thai Union’s shrimp operations globally. He will be directly responsible for all of Thai Union’s shrimp and related companies, not only driving the strategy to become a leading global shrimp player, but also increase the level of integration among the Group’s various shrimp and related companies to realize synergies in procurement, processing, sales and marketing.

Rittirong has a Bachelor’s Degree from Bangkok University.

Joerg Ayrle is Group Chief Financial Officer, Thai Union Group, effective March 2014.

Ayrle has in-depth finance experience, including accounting, treasury, M&A, and post-merger integration.

He enjoyed a long tenure with German conglomerate SIEMENS group, working across multiple business units and geographies including Germany, Singapore, China and the U.S.

Aside from his expertise and passion in financial disciplines, Ayrle is also a seasoned strategic business partner to senior executives. He has spearheaded several critical business turnaround projects that fundamentally helped improve company performance.

Before joining Thai Union, Ayrle’s was Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Osram Sylvania, a U.S. subsidiary of SIEMENS, and from 2009-2012, he served as Chief Financial Offer for the Osram global division, Specialty Lighting.

Prior to that he was a Managing Director of Corporate Finance Mergers and Acquisitions Asia, based in Beijing and held other senior executive roles within SIEMENS in China and Germany.

Ayrle received his MBA from the University of Augsburg, Germany in 1994.

Shue Chung Chan is Executive Director (since 2001) and Head of Group HR, Thai Union Group, effective April 1, 2016.

As Head of Group HR, Chung provides leadership and strategic direction for HR functions across the Group.

He is also an Executive Director of Thai Union Group, leading the Thai Union Factory (TUF) operation by setting strategic direction and providing supervision.

Chung reports directly to Group CEO Thiraphong Chansiri.

He joined Thai Union in 1996, initially in charge of the company’s manufacturing and operations, which included functions such as Logistics and Planning, Engineering, Production, and Quality Control.

Chung earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Engineering Management from Oregon State University. He received his Master’s Degree in Business Administrations from Bangkok University and achieved his Directors Certification Program from the Thai Institute of Directors Association in 2002.

Tunyawat Kasemsuwan is Director of the Global Innovation Center, Thai Union Group, effective May 2014.

Tunyawat is a seasoned scientific officer and global executive with a proven track record of developing and commercializing innovative new products, ingredients and processes by combining his expertise in nutritional science with a passion for satisfying unmet customer and consumer needs, and for driving business growth.

Tunyawat is responsible for building the infrastructure and capabilities of Thai Union’s Global Innovation Center. Using internal and external resources, he is developing a portfolio of projects focused on bringing greater scientific substance and sustainable innovation advantage to our global branded tuna business.

He started his career with National Starch and Chemical, Thailand (now Ingredion) before joining Mead Johnson Nutrition as Research and Development Director Asia-Pacific. During his seven years with Mead Johnson, Tunyawat's responsibilities were expanded beyond Asia to include significant European and Latin American projects. In 2008, Tunyawat rejoined Ingredion where he assumed dual management roles as Senior Director, Technology-Asia Pacific and Global Clinical and Infant Nutrition.

Tunyawat received his PhD and Master of Science in Food Science and Technology from Iowa State University, and received his B.S.in Biotechnology from Mahidol University in Thailand.

As the Global Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Thai Union, Darian McBain is responsible for implementing change that will drive sustainability through the entire global seafood industry. Darian also leads the company’s communications efforts.

Since joining Thai Union in 2015, Darian has taken the company from a commodity focus to a wholistic ecosystem approach with a focus on oceans and people. Working within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Darian developed and has driven Thai Union’s sustainability strategy SeaChange® since its inception. The sustainability strategy addresses many of the sustainability challenges that Thai Union and the wider industry face.

Darian has developed a strong focus on traceability and transparency within the SeaChange® program. Increasingly Darian is looking to new technologies such as blockchain to solve some of the most critical issues within the industry, whether seafood traceability, identification for migrant workers, or even digital payments.

In 2016, working with internal and external stakeholders, Darian launched Thai Union’s global tuna commitment. This commitment took Thai Union away from just buying fish, to actively engaging all stakeholders, from governments to fleets to NGOs, to agree and act on a series of activities to protect a fishery and maintain a healthy ecosystem. Committed to transparency, Thai Union published a tuna commitment progress report to publicly share their journey. 

She also spearheaded Thai Union’s landmark Greenpeace agreement for sustainable and socially responsible seafood, which led to the release of a Vessel Code of Conduct and the vessel improvement program. This was the first global agreement that Greenpeace had reached with a corporation.

In 2016, Thai Union adopted its Ethical Migrant Recruitment Policy, one of the first ‘zero-fees’ recruitment models regionally. Developed closely with a local NGO, this was globally recognized and encouraged the Thai government to adopt new legislation, eliminating recruitment broker use in Thailand. In 2017 Darian joined the Bali Process Business and Government Forum, representing Thai businesses working toward reducing human trafficking and forced labor. Darian regularly presents on the topic of modern slavery, including presenting at a panel at the 2018 UN General Assembly in New York with the UK Secretary of State and other business leaders.

In her Corporate Affairs role, Darian leads Thai Union’s strategic communications efforts, crisis communications, brand reputation management including internal communications, media relations as well as CSR activities.

Darian is a member of Thai Union’s Global Leadership Team, the Risk Management Committee and is Chair of the Sustainability Committee.

Darian holds a PHD in global supply chain analysis from the University of Sydney and remains an adjunct to the university’s Integrated Sustainability Analysis unit. She has published numerous academic articles and books. Before joining Thai Union, she was Managing Director of the consultancy Blue Sky Green, Sustainable Development Executive for the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and worked for the UN as well as WWF. In 2017 she was awarded Thai Union’s Most Exceptional Effort Award, and in 2018 she was named Edie Sustainability Leader of the Year as well as Ethical Corporation’s Responsible Business Leader of the Year. In 2019, Darian was honored in the Vision category of the Seafood Champion Awards at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit.

Scott Solar is the Group Director, Global Food Services and Culinary Development for Thai Union.

Scott’s broad-ranging responsibilities include, menu development, concept screening, product testing, and partnering with various internal departments, such as, Marketing, Consumer Insights, Purchasing, and Quality Assurance. Scott’s responsibilities also include relationship management, partnership and integration with Red Lobster Seafood Restaurants, in which Thai Union is an active shareholder.

Under Scott’s leadership, the GFI team engages with a variety of international vendors in sales, onboarding, training, and product education – toward the end-goal of driving cost and time efficiencies in the production of Thai Union’s products. This includes onsite field work with restaurants to ensure they are correctly and effectively delivering the product as concepted & produced.

Prior to joining Thai Union, Scott worked for more than three decades in the food and restaurant industries and was previously the Corporate Culinary Research and Development Manager and Managing Chef at Red Lobster Hospitality LLC.

Scott received a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America, New York.

Patrick leads the Group’s global corporate strategic and business planning efforts and monitors the plan’s execution. He also supports the development and execution of strategic initiatives across the Group. Identification and strategic evaluation of acquisition opportunities is also part of Patrick’s scope, along with the Group’s business integration and operating model development.

Prior to joining Thai Union, Patrick spent 10 years as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company where he was an Associate Partner. At McKinsey, Patrick was part of the Recovery and Transformation Services and Marketing & Sales practices, focusing on revenue growth programs for clients in consumer-facing industries.

Patrick has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD in Singapore and holds a diploma (MSc equivalent) in business administration from the University of Passau in Germany.

Wai Yat Paco Lee has been General Manager of Investor Relations and Corporate Investment at Thai Union since mid-2012. Prior to that, he was the Group’s financial controller since 2003 with responsibility for financial and management reporting, annual budgets and liaison with internal and external auditors, and oversaw Investor Relations.

His Investor Relations responsibilities include fundraising activities thru capital markets. He also has oversight of corporate investment matters, such as subsidiary management.

Lee is also a non-executive board member of three of Thai Union’s strategic investments - Avanti Feeds Limited (listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange), Pakfood Public Company Limited and the Group’s 40%-owned Avanti Frozen Foods.

Previously, Lee helped start a leading Thai e-commerce firm, Biz Dimension, which is currently an affiliate of the Group.

Under his leadership, his team received several Investor Relations-related awards from the Stock Exchange of Thailand and leading regional financial publications, namely Asiamoney, FinanceAsia, and IR Magazine, over the years.

Personally, Lee has been named Best Investor Relations Officer four times and Best Financial Officer three times in the Thai Agribusiness and Food Sector by the Investment Analysts Association of Thailand (IAA). FinanceAsia named him the 3rd Best CFO in Thailand in the magazine’s annual Best Managed Companies Poll in 2014.

Before joining Thai Union Group, Lee worked as an analyst with leading Thai and foreign securities brokers and a foreign bank-owned asset management firm in Thailand. He also worked as a marketing executive for a Thai garment manufacturer and exporter.

Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University and a MBA from Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University.

He is also an independent and non-executive director (and an audit committee member) of a Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed asphalt mixing plant builder D&G Technology Holding Co. Ltd.

Comgrit leads the Environmental Health and Safety team (EHS), overseeing risk mitigation plans and working closely with various departments throughout Thai Union, such as the sustainability, procurement and operations teams.

He began work with Thai Union’s regional EHS teams around the globe focusing on areas of industrial health and safety, as well as energy data collection and analysis. Comgrit also leads the development of operational plans to reduce carbon emissions, power and water usage, waste and packaging to meet the company’s 2020 sustainability goals.

Comgrit has over 20 years of experiences leading EHS teams in Southeast Asia, having previously worked with leading international companies including Cadbury, Kraft Foods, Nestle, GENCO (Thai hazardous and recycle waste treatment facility) and Thai Beverage.

Comgrit received his Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, U.K. He graduated from Kasetsart University, Bangkok with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor Degree in General Management from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University.