Dancham Board members tight-lipped on resignation

Carsten Carlstedt’s resignation as Executive Director of Dancham remains a mystery even after Dancham’s regular networking meeting on Thursday 21 July at Admiral’s Pub / Checkin.

The networking was well visited considering that July is the main summer holiday month for the Scandinavians. Many had come hoping to hear what went down prior to the unfortunate resignation of Executive Director Carsten Carlstedt, but none of the three board members attending the event, Supareak Charlie Chomchan, Michael Andersen and Simon Scheibel, shed any light on the matter.

Carsten Carlstedt himself thanked the members, his staff and the board for two interesting years.

“I would like to send a big thank you for almost two very exciting years to all the members,” he said.

“Thank you to the staff of DTCC for a good corporation during my time. In particular Pam – thank you for getting on board on DTCC staff last year. You really succeeded to raise the service to a unique level. I like your always loyal and hardworking approach to your job – not to mentioned your good sense of humor and smile, that can change the most critical world situation to a scenario with good solutions. You are not only a good employee but also a good friend.”

He went on to thank the president Thomas Nyborg, adding that he believed the newly elected board had the potential to provide the chamber with a very strong team.

“A special thanks go to Stig Vagt-Andersen for often helping with relevant articles to the media and Michael Andersen for his many positive inputs in helping the office striving to reach our goals. Together these two guys represent many years of good experience as Danes that have been operating successfully in Thailand for decades. Also big thanks to K. Santhapat for his always professional advice in helping the Chamber and its members with legal advice.”

“On the media matters, the board has experienced members like Sune regarding IT and Sophie that are expert in handling social platforms not to mentioned the successful business woman Savija who has lots of experiences in handling chamber and business matters..

Carsten Carlstedt also thanked the very new board members Torben Nybo Jensen, Jesper Riis-Antonsen, and the treasurer of the board Simon Scheibel.

“Last but not least a very special thank you goes to one particular member of the board, Khun Charlie. Big thanks to you Charlie for always being available to answer questions or discuss DTCC matters.”

Returning to the issue of his resignation, he only revealed that his resignation was not due to an offer for a new job, that was too good to resist. He is still considering what to do next.

“Many people have asked me about what I am going to do in the future. And my answer at this moment is that I have to find out first,” he said.

While looking for this next opportunity, he was going back to help the charity organisation, Periamma, for which he was initially the country director when he was recruited to be the ED of Dancham.

“I have never mentioned this relationship during my time as an ED at DTCC,” Carsten Carlstedt added.

“Periamma is supporting poor children at the district of Surin Thailand. We are trying to support single parents families so that the mother (typical) can effort to keep the children to finish education in the Thai primary school before the single parent (typical) mother has to “hand over” her children to the labor market.”

Education is the prerequisite for development, he explained.

“The skills to read and write, combined with good learning methods, are fundamental preconditions to develop people and the society. You need them to understand where and who to vote for in the future elections.”

Interested members were encouraged to contact him, he said.

“We are not talking about millions. Even a small transaction from a sponsor can make a huge different like one of the schools that last year got a new water pump.”

As for the resignation, the question still lingers: Why did the Board fail to retain its Executive Director?