TCEB chief resigns after two and a half years in role

Peerapong Oeusoonthornwattana submitted his resignation on August 7, citing personal reasons, which was accepted by the TCEB board. CEI Asia Pacific understands that Peerapong, also a former managing director of Microsoft Thailand, will enter the monkhood for an unspecified period of time — something many prominent Thai people do in order to take a break and refresh themselves. TCEB board member and chairman of the executive committee, Kajit Habanananda, has taken over as interim director general. He will hold the position until the end of this year. But the former world president of Lions Club International, who clinched the deal for Thailand to host the 30,000-delegate Lions convention in 2008, did not rule himself out of continuing in the post if required. Kajit said: "The board has asked me to fill the job until December 31. I can handle it and I enjoy it. There will be no vacuum." Kajit has wasted no time in proving that TCEB will continue to play a dynamic role in Thailand's rapidly emerging events industry by instigating a number of initiatives. These include launching the MICE Information Centre; Thai Team; the MICE Capability Project; Mini MICE, aimed at encouraging domestic events to be held in Thailand; and the Thailand MICE Mart, which will take place in February 2007.