Chairman and Co Founder

Michael Doherty

Michael “Mickey” Doherty studied European finance and accounting at Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom before working with Joshua Tetley & Sons in breweries and pub development. Micky has opened pubs, bars, and restaurants in Hong Kong, Thailand, China, the United States, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. In 2005, Doherty moved to Thailand to raise a family and has owned, operated or consulted on more than 70 projects in Asia over the past 30 years. As well as being involved in the day-to-day operations of all Panthera Group companies, Doherty currently is playing an instrumental role in the legal work required for Panthera Group’s mergers and acquisitions and serving as a director and full board member.

CEO

Michael Grundy

Micheal Grundy was announced new CEO of the Panthera Group 18/09/23

Michael Grundy’s career in hospitality has taken him all over the globe, including Greece, Spain and Thailand. Michael started working for the Panthera group in 2012 as the manager of the Kiwi Pub & Grill in Bangkok before moving to manage Bangkok Beat and then taking over as general manager of Sugar Club Bangkok in 2016. Starting at a young age in the 1970s, the Merseyside English native tailored his skill sets to the family catering business, developing a flair for the food & beverage industry. He graduated from College and John Moore’s University in the UK. In 2018, Michael became operations director for Panthera’s Bangkok nightlife venues, encompassing Insanity Superclub, one of DJ Mag’s Top 100 clubs in the world, Levels Club & Lounge, Sugar Club, Bafros, and Juicy Bar. “Managing a nightclub is more than just a career; it’s a lifestyle.” He recently said. Responsible for making the tough decisions, Michael’s extensive knowledge includes costing, human resources, purchasing and inventory control, security and insurance, and other considerations like crowd control and even music and hospitality. Michael prides himself on hands-on management and customer-orientated focus.

CEO OG Canna Group

Benjamin Baskins

A graduate of Santa Monica College in Los Angeles, California, Baskins began his career in international trade by opening his first retail store Pale Face in Sapporo, Japan, in 1992. Baskins quickly expanded to six global retail stores, including a thriving wholesale trading business throughout the 1990s with outlets in Tokyo, Los Angeles and Sapporo. He then expanded into Bangkok, Thailand, in 1999 as the official distributor of Von Dutch and Ed Hardy clothing brands, opening eight retail stores in key department stores and shopping areas throughout Thailand. In 2005 Baskins started his entertainment and food and beverage businesses in Bangkok, opening his first club named Gazebo on Khao san road, then expanding to Sukhumvit, opening the infamous Gazebo Soi 1 in 2007. During this year, web 2.0 was born, and digital marketing gained popularity with the start of Facebook and Baskins’s commitment to expanding his skillset to digital marketing. What followed was making a fundamental change through events via the Baskins founded LUSH events. This initiative promotes positive social and environmental change by hosting eight events involving over 20,000 people and raising awareness and funds for social projects in Thailand. In 2013 Baskins joined Panthera Group as Director of marketing, later becoming CEO of OG Retail Company. The OG Canna Company is a dedicated group of passionate individuals with two primary goals. The first goal is to create a high-quality immersive cannabis experience for customers throughout our uniquely individually branded retail stores in Thailand. The second goal is to supply these outlets with the OG Canna Company’s own genetics in the form of 32 cannabis strains directly from our cultivation facility. The OG Canna Company has additionally partnered with Mahakan Biotech to offer lab-certified cannabis throughout OG Canna Company outlets.

Chief Financial Officer

Atistaphach Kaewyai

Atistaphach Kaewyai joined the Panthera Group as its Chief Financial Officer in 2019 after almost two decades of working as an auditor and senior accountant for significant corporations in Thailand and the United States.

She came to Panthera after a year at Dacon Inspection Services Dacon Inspection Technologies Company Limited Check .and two years as CFO of LCB Container Terminal 1 Co. and its subsidiary. She previously was the accounting manager for the SCG-Dow Group in Thailand.

Atistaphach first began work for the joint venture of Siam Cement Group and Dow Chemical Co. of the U.S. in 2007, first as a cost accountant and analyst and then as an associate accounting manager at Dow’s corporate headquarters in the U.S.

Her experience includes working at JP Morgan Securities (Thailand) and KPMG Phoomchai Audit.

Atistaphach holds a master’s degree in business administration from Chulalongkorn University and a bachelor’s degree in commerce and accountancy from Thammasat University and is a certified public accountant.

Business Development Director

Supachai Kitprapa

With over 30 years of experience in project development and hospitality, Supachai Kitprapa has earned respect as he nimbly navigates his role as business development director for the Panthera Group. Supachai enables and assists foreign investors with leasing, operations, licensing, and business-structure development involving definitions of your business’s framework. Supachai can effectively choose and make effective decisions and work together to achieve strategic goals by defining how the organisation works.

He is also the managing director for Nana Plaza, Panthera Group’s landmark nightlife entertainment complex. He focuses on the property’s development, construction, and operations by focusing on finance, development appraisal, planning, construction, market research and promotion. Additionally, reflecting changes in practice, the environmental impacts of property development, focusing on Sustainable Property Development.

Born and raised in Bangkok, Supachai is a graduate of Srinakharinwirot University, where he studied Applied Linguistics.

H.R. Director

Nueng Kramsri

Nueng Kramsri worked her way up at Panthera Group from receptionist to office manager and recently to head of human resources. She joined Panthera in 2008, working the front desk until taking a break to work in Phuket. She returned to the company in 2010 as the personal assistant to co-founder Michael Doherty, which she did for two years. After stints working in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, Nueng returned to Panthera Group in 2017, becoming the P.A. for co-founder Paul Hayward. In 2021, Nueng was promoted to office manager and, in 2022, added the title of Human Resources Manager to her portfolio.

Nightclubs Operations Director

Jeffrey Conrad Columbres

Filipino-American Jeffrey Conrad Columbres started spinning records at age 16 and hasn’t left the club industry since.

The head of Panthera Groups nightlife operations took his first DJ gig at the Chabot Discotheque in 1983, kicking off a career that saw him perform in venues in the U.S., Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

Jeffery got into management in 1992 at the Dusit Thani Hotel before spending the next 20 years managing clubs across Thailand, including Lucifer in Pattaya and Twilo in Bangkok.

He joined Panthera Group in 2012 as the general manager for Bash Nightclub before being named operations director for the group’s clubs, including the Insanity Nightclub, Levels Club & Lounge, Sugar Club in Bangkok, and Phuket, Seduction, and Skylight.

Sun Legal Ltd - Managing Partner

Patinya Senaveenin

Attorney at law since 1999, Patinya Senaveenin leads Sun Legal, which specialises in providing consulting services to business leaders, investors, and Panthera‘s group of companies. Fluent in Thai and English, Patinya has significant transactional experience in the real estate conveyancing process, including property sales (freehold and leasehold), i.e. land, houses, apartments, condominium units and commercial buildings, and has also represented private entities in litigation and intellectual property sectors, hospitality, hotel, and manufacturing.

Patinya and his team at Sun Legal can assist clients in all aspects of corporate governance, including structuring and restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and tax planning.

Patinya also specialises in commercial and business law, utilising his deep connections with the Board of Investment, Ministry of Commerce, Revenue, Labor, Intellectual Property, Thailand Food and Drug Authorization and Land registry departments. He also has long-standing relationships with the Royal Thai Police force and the Thai court system.

Among his accomplishments is representing foreign investors in matters of investment approvals, conducting due diligence and structuring international investments, property acquisitions, and obtaining a Foreign Business License and Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) approval for foreign investors doing business in Thailand.

A graduate of Chulalongkorn University in International Law in 2005 and Assumption University in 1999, where he studied Business Law. Patinya became an Extraordinary Member of the Thai Bar Association in 2001, and that same year was admitted as an Attorney at Law and became a Competent patent Officer appointed by the Minister to act under the Patent Act. He added the title of Notarial Service Attorney later in 2009.

Operations Director, Food & Beverage Yumbite

Paul Watson

When Belfast native Paul Watson moved to Thailand at the start of the millennium, he brought a bit of Ireland with him. Watson spent the 90s in the United States, but ten years later came to Koh Samui, where he opened Tropical Murphy’s Irish Pub, which remains the island’s favourite pub.

Based in Bangkok, Watson served as operations manager for several pubs and restaurants, including The Bangkok, Irish Embassy, Max Murphy’s, and Irish Times. He joined the Panthera Group in 2006.

He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Koh Samui from 2017-2018 and a Paul Harris Fellow.

MMG Co founder & COO

Yuanjin “Jackie” Yang

“Serial Entrepreneur” Yuanjin “Jackie” Yang has spent his life continuously developing new ideas and starting new businesses.

A graduate of the Wuhan Institute of Technology in marketing and business administration, Yuanjin successfully built a start-up company in the Chinese e-commerce industry, reaching a sales volume of 40 million baht (US$1.2 million) within two years.

After selling his company, Yuanjin joined DianPing Thailand for four years as a business-to-business manager and helped successfully market more than 200 Thai and international brands to the Chinese market.

He co-founded MMG Thailand in September 2019.

Sales Director, Boozia Distribution

Kajnarong Pitrachat

Kajnarong “Denny” Pitrachat is not only the sales director for Boozia but selects the wines the company stocks, manages their import, and negotiates deals with local suppliers.

A shareholder in Boozia, he joined Panthera Group in 2017 after serving as managing director of Phuket Food & Beverage Co. and sales director for POP Co.

Passionate about wine, spirits, and food, Denny speaks Thai and English, educates hotel f&b teams about wine, runs marathons and trail races, and competes in triathlons.

Denny holds a master’s degree in public administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University in the United States and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Kasetsart University.

Supply Chain Director & CEO Boozia Distribution

Shikhar Raj Shrestha

Shikhar Raj Shrestha has spent nearly his entire working life with the Panthera Group and was among the founders of four of its significant nightclubs and Boozia Distribution.

“Shaq” began work for Panthera as a light and video jockey at the Insomnia Club in Bangkok in 2010 before moving up to operations manager. In 2012, he joined the founding team of Levels Club & Lounge, where he became general manager.

Stepping out of the club, Shrestha managed logistics and operations for five Panthera Group clubs before taking over as supply chain director in 2017. He co-founded Boozia in 2019.

Shrestha said his motivation in founding Boozia was to “change the industry’s mentality” and provide a better service, communication, and products while better educating buyers about products and brands.