Chavalit Frederick Tsao
Chairman, IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group
Permanent Honorary President, Family Business Network Asia
Chavalit Frederick Tsao, also known as Fred in his network, is the fourth generation steward of a family business which started in The Shanghai Bund before 1906. Fred joined his family business at the age of twenty after he graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master of Science in Engineering.
Fred’s early business successes include starting up a highly profitable palm oil business in Thailand and turning around a bankrupt Thai national shipping line and successfully listing it. In 1995 and at the age of thirty-seven, Fred took over as Chairman of IMC Group. Under his stewardship, the traditional shipping company transformed into a multi-national conglomerate with diverse business interests.
Today, IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group has interests in four strategic business areas:
- IMC Industrial, an integrated industrial supply chain group which covers resources, ports, logistics, shipping, offshore engineering, shipyards and other services;
- Octave, a sustainable living lifestyle and real estate group; a platform of curated well-being to help people find clarity, harmony and a new level of consciousness and freedom;
- Aitia Institute, a learning institute dedicated to shift consciousness of leadership and organization in pursuit of sustainability. It is focused on mindfulness as a sustainable process to build harmonious society; and
- Heritas Capital Management, an investment and fund management group
Throughout the years, Fred has served on numerous Maritime and non-profit organizations. Notably, he served for a period of seven years as Chairman of Intercargo, an international dry cargo shipping organization. Alongside, Fred created a number of platforms to promote collaboration within the Maritime industry.
Besides his illustrious line of family business, Fred is also passionate in cutting edge business economics and sustainability. As the Founder, Permanent Honorary President and Patron of Family Business Network (FBN) Asia since 2008, Fred actively promotes family business as a force for good in society. From 2010 to 2016, Fred served on the FBN International (FBN-I) Board. He is currently Chairman of the Family Business International Foundation and has been a member of the FBN–I Ambassadors’ Circle since 2016.
Family Business Network Asia is immensely grateful to Fred and his family for their gracious patronage of the network.