Classification Interviews : Rtn Tee Chayakul by PP Philip Baechtold and Rtn Jan Cederwall by Rtn Lars Svensson

29th October, 2021

PP Philip Baechtold started the interview by setting the goal that this would be the best classification thus far this Rotary year. With that goal in mind, PP Philip introduced Rtn Tee Chayakul to help answer questions about his background and reasons for joining our esteemed organization. We learnt that Rtn Tee’s name came about when his father was doing his PhD in Germany and wisely discovered that long names lead to excessive work when completing forms such as immmigration cards for traveling. His father vowed that when he had kids they should all have short names to expedite matters. A man of his word, his father had three children with the efficient names of Tee, Bee, and Pee, with the youngest sibling eventually changing his name to Pete to avoid confusion with other meanings related to his previous name.

Rtn Tee graduated from Harvard Business School and is married to a Vietnamese lady and are celebrating their first child, a son born just two months ago. Rtn Tee is currently working with the payment gateway company Stripe which he joined in February 2021 as the first employee in Thailand. Stripe is currently one of the lastest payment processors in the world with a strong base in the Americas. Before Stripe Rtn Tee was the first employee for Traveloka where he led the growth of that company for several years. Rtn Mark Wolf helped introduce Rtn Tee to Rotary when their friendship grew over their discussions about work and American Football, more specifically, the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Seahawks. After Rtn Tee returned to Thailand from the USA he felt that Rotary would be a great way to contribute back to Thailand’s long term prosperity. Rtn Tee remains optimistic about the future of Thailand highlighting that within 2025 it will be the second largest e-commerce market in South East Asia, second only to Indonesia. Even though he has Chinese heritage from his grandparents, Rtn Tee and his family see themselves as fully Thai and remain proud that Thailand is a place of multi-ethnicity. Rtn Tee’s love of sports goes beyond the game itself to the underlying philosophy of teamwork, challenges, and comradeship which he applies to his personal and professional life. When asked how to stay nimble and focused while growing a startup, Rtn Tee answered that one must keep the culture and values up front and center at all times in order to enjoy sustainable success while the business evolves.

Up next Rtn Lars began the classification interview with Rtn Jan Cederwall with the claim, yet again, that this interview would be the best interview ever. Rtn Lars also warned Rtn Jan to expect hard questions, and with the stage set, the games began. Rtn Jan was born on the island of Gotland, Sweden and learnt to swim, boat, and other related water skills that still help him today in Thailand. After graduating from University of Stockholm, he joined international companies and began to travel almost immediately. He knew early that his calling in life was in energy and he began in the oil industry. This career took him across Europe and even Alaska. In the spring of 1993 he wanted to experience something very different so he came to Thailand, which remained his main residence as of today. When Rtn Lars pointed out that the oil companies are being portrayed in the media as a dark force holding back sustainable environmental efforts, Rtn Jan explained that he has moved away from oil into more sustainable energy initiatives, more specifically hydroelectric power. Over the last twenty years Rtn Jan has built multiple large scale hydroelectric power stations. When pressed whether hydroelectric power is better than oil production, Rtn Jan provided fair evidence that explained how hydroelectric power is not only superior in producing sustainable energy, but also provides fresh water, sanitation, and other community services that provide significant benefits to the local communities in which he works.

When asked why it took so long to join Rotary, Rtn Jan understandably answered that due to his extensive travel schedule he was not able to join, however that changed when Covid and travel restrictions came into effect. This is the first time that Rtn Jan has been in the same country for this long since his early days in the Navy. This allowed him to spend more time with his family, friends, and explore friendships within the Rotary community. Rtn Jan was  previously familiar with the Rotary club as he has been motorcycling with PP Philip and PP Andrew on a regular basis up in Northern Thailand over many years. As we closed out the session, P Finbar mentioned what many people were thinking, that we are all reassuringly pleased that Rtn Jan still decided to join Rotary after those motorcycling adventures.

Reported by  Rtn Sunny Patel

DEJÀ VOUS… IS IT YOU?

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