Born and raised in Chumphon in southern Thailand, 48-year-old Napassanun Punnipa is the CEO of TQM Corporation, a leading Thai insurance and finance firm established by her husband Unchalin’s family almost 70 years ago. With her 58-year-old husband by her side as president of the company, today Napassanun runs a business that employs around 4,000 staff serving some two million customers through 90 branches across the country.
A career in finance and insurance, though, was far from her mind as a youngster. “I fell in love with the piano as a young girl and I could play for up to 10 hours a day sometimes,” she smiles. It was this nascent passion that saw her become a graduate pianist of the Royal Thai Army School of Music, an experience that stood her in good stead, she says, “Because it taught me discipline and the value of hard work.” These attributes became apparent when Napassanun’s focus switched to business and finance after meeting Unchalin. And while she describes the changes as challenging, she was able to tap her latent organisational skills and strong work ethic to earn a bachelor’s degree from Sripatum University followed by a master’s degree at Kasetsart University, both in business administration. She then crowned her academic achievements with a doctorate of philosophy in public administration from the University of Eastern Asia.
Dr Napassanun Punnipa
As Thailand opens up after months of working from home, Napassanun continues to help customers deal with accident and health insurance cover. After the pandemic hit, TQM was particularly proactive in rolling out new products geared towards health and travel assurance, so she has never been busier. “When consulting with clients I like to work closely with them,” she explains. “I’m old school and enjoy face-to-face interaction, but because of the pandemic I’m having to adapt to doing more business online. Digital platforms such as Facebook and Line are increasingly important as market places and modes of business communication. When I started out we only had a face-to-face channel. Later we established telemarketing and telesales services with more than 2,000 staff members. Online is the latest phase of that evolution.”
Napassanun leads quite a busy social life as well and often joins the events of good friend Suriyon Sriorathaikul of Beauty Gems. In fact, she was a major supporter of Suriyon’s Saduak Baengpun food bank for those affected by the Covid pandemic. With so much happening the busy executive doesn’t get much downtime but when she does it is spent with Unchalin and their children, 18-year-old son Panpit and 16-year-old daughter Ingfar. The youngsters have been studying in England for the past five years but when together they enjoy two of their parents’ other loves—music and travel. “My husband plays the guitar well and Panpit can play too, so often we try to get together for a jamming session. Napassanun adds, “Every year Unchalin and I like to visit a small alpine town called Wengen in Switzerland. It is pristinely beautiful and I find it so reviving. Our love of travel is the reason we offer trip incentives to our staff and we often join them on local and international outings.”
Indeed, family is all important to Napassanun who describes a loving childhood growing up with brother Sorasak and younger sister Sulalita. It was one of the many things that attracted her to Unchalin when they first met in Chumphon. “I was so happy to be marrying into a big family,” she smiles. “With his two siblings and their children and my brother and sister with their broods, we are a close-knit unit. There is always something going on.” That said, when she can engineer herself a little ‘me’ time, Napassanun indulges in a private passion for jewellery—“Diamonds really are a girl’s best friend!”—and a mild addiction to Korean TV series. “I love them and I won’t apologise for that,” she giggles infectiously. “I have to concentrate hard at work all the time, so they are my way of tuning out and switching off at home.”
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