Speaker > Biography

William E. Heinecke

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
The Minor Group, Thailand

William E. Heinecke founded the Minor Group in l967 -- nearly three decades later it has grown into more than thirty companies.
Bill Heinecke came to the Kingdom of Thailand in l963 with his parents. He graduated from International School of Bangkok; married, and formed his first company, appropriately named “Minor Holdings” in l967.  Minor Holdings has since made significant developments and investments, in the marketing, manufacturing, food and property fields, employing more than 18,000 people and has revenue of over US$600 million in 2007.

Mr. Heinecke currently serves on the Board of Directors of several prominent Asian corporations including the two listed Thai companies that he founded, Minor Corporation Public Co., Ltd. and Minor International PCL. In addition, he also serves as a Director of Sermsuk PCL, the publicly listed Pepsi bottler in Thailand; and Rajadamri Hotel PCL, the owner of the Four Seasons Hotels in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

He is also a two-time past president of the American Chamber of Commerce, Thailand; sat on the Prime Minister’s Foreign Investment Advisory Council, and accompanied several official Thailand government missions to America and Europe. He became a naturalized Thai citizen in 1991.

When he’s not overseeing his far-flung marketing, manufacturing, food, property and hotel development activities, he can be found piloting his airplane or indulging in his other passions, scuba diving, helicopter, and racing antique sport cars.

In 2006, he was bestowed an honorary doctoral degree of Business Administration in Management by the Board of Governors of Yonok College in Lampang (northern Thailand) for his achievements as an entrepreneur, for his outstanding business performance and for his philanthropic work in helping to meet the needs of education and related development in Thailand.  He also authored the book “Entrepreneur”.

Bill Heinecke is married to Kathy Heinecke and has two sons.