Axel Winter

I build platforms and businesses at the intersection of AI, luxury retail, and consumer technology across Asia — and since 2026, I govern them at board level too.

I operate across three connected roles: operator, builder, and board director.

As CEO of Xponential — a joint venture I co-founded between Siam Piwat Group and my firm, Pivot Digital — I’m building the ONESIAM SuperApp into a platform for luxury retail ecosystems: super-app, CDP, AI personalization, generative AI in production. This is a rare model: I operate as co-principal and equity partner, not just executive.

As Chief Digital Officer of Siam Piwat Group — home to Siam Paragon and ICONSIAM — I lead enterprise-wide AI transformation, reporting directly to the Group CEO. I represent the group globally, most recently as the sole executive from a Thai retail group selected for the inaugural Shoptalk Luxe in Abu Dhabi, alongside leadership from LVMH, Kering, and BCG.

In 2026, Bank Negara Malaysia approved my appointment as Independent Non-Executive Director of GX Bank Berhad — Malaysia’s first digital bank, backed by Grab, Singtel and the Kuok Group — where I serve on the Board Audit Committee and Board Risk & Compliance Committee, with a focus on technology, AI and innovation. Banks need builders in the boardroom right now — I wrote about why: The Builder in the Boardroom →

Through Pivot Digital, I take on select strategic advisory engagements — multi-year programs for some of Thailand’s and the region’s largest conglomerates and financial institutions. At Alpha Founders Capital, I invest in and mentor seed-stage founders in FinTech, RetailTech, and AI.

Previously, I built Central Group’s technology organization from the ground up — digital, AI, data, product, and engineering — driving the transformation behind one of Asia’s largest retail IPOs. The team I built, now known informally as Thailand’s “CTO Mafia,” today leads technology at LINE, Agoda, Kasikorn Bank, True, and Siam Cement Group.

Before that: Standard Chartered (Global Head of Enterprise Architecture, $1B+ digital strategy across 33 markets), GE Capital (Global Chief Architect and CTO Asia), Cisco (CTO Asia), Deloitte, and Accenture. My career began by pioneering internet infrastructure across Southeast Asia in the 1990s.
My focus: building platforms that endure, applying AI to create measurable business transformation — hands-on with the stack, operating at board and group level. Bangkok-based, working at regional scale across Thailand, Malaysia and ASEAN.

I take on select board mandates and strategic engagements across the region.

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