Election of the New Board Chairman
It is with pride and pleasure that I wish to inform the AIT community that the Board of Trustees
of the Asian Institute of Technology has elected among its members H.E. Mr. Anand
Panyarachun to be its next Chairman, in replacement of the late M L Birabhongse Kasemsri,
former Principal Private Secretary to His Majesty the King of Thailand. The extraordinary
meeting of the Board was held at AIT on 15 September 2000, under the chairmanship of the
Vice-Chairman, Professor Hans van Ginkel, Rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo
and Under-Secretary General to the United Nations.
The Board took this occasion to pay a special tribute to the memories of its former Board
Chairman, M L Birabhongse Kasemsri, and to the late Milton E. Bender, its first President.
Mr. Anand becomes the sixth Chairman of the Board of AIT. Preceding him are H.E. Dr. Pote
Sarasin, Professor Puey Ungpakorn, Professor Oscar Mapua, H.E. Dr. Thanat Khoman,
Chairman emeritus, and M L Birabhongse Kasemsri.
Mr. Anand has had an outstanding career in the Thai Foreign Service, where he has served as
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Ambassador to the United States of America, Canada,
Germany and the United Nations. He was twice Prime Minister of Thailand in the early 1990's.
Mr. Anand is currently Chairman of the Saha-Union Public Company Limited, as well as of a
number of other important and prestigious institutions, including the Thailand Development
Research Institute, the Thailand Environment Institute, the National Social Policy and the
National Commission for the Formulation of Policy and Action Plan on Human Rights.
Mr. Anand was appointed UNICEF Ambassador for Thailand, and is a recipient of the Ramon
Magsaysay Award for Goverment Service. He is the recipient of nineteen honorary doctoral
degrees in Thailand and abroad.
Mr. Anand is a graduate of Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Prof. Jean-Louis Armand
President