05/09/2026
SO Proud of YOU
If you've ever shopped in Bangkok, you've almost certainly walked through her buildings.
Siam Paragon. Siam Center. Siam Discovery. ICONSIAM, the vast riverside landmark on the Chao Phraya. All of them belong to one company, Siam Piwat, and that company is run by Chadatip Chutrakul.
Her story doesn't begin in a corner office. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a degree in banking and finance, worked abroad, then came home in 1986 and joined the family firm founded by her father. She started in the accounting department. Then sales and promotion. She became managing director a decade later, and chief executive in 2005.
What she did with it reshaped a city.
ICONSIAM, her signature project, was built at a cost of well over a billion and a half dollars. At the time of its launch it stood as the largest private sector investment ever made in Thailand. Twenty acres on the riverfront, in a country where the biggest bets are usually placed by the state or by old family conglomerates.
The recognition followed. Forbes Asia named her among its Power Businesswomen three years running. Fortune placed her on its list of the most powerful women in Asia. In 2019 she was inducted into the World Retail Hall of Fame, one of only four leaders honoured that year, and the same year ICONSIAM was named store design of the year by the World Retail Congress.
The company she leads now spans dozens of affiliates, from malls to restaurants to venue management.
An accounting desk in 1986. A billion dollar riverfront skyline today.
