What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

During the 2025 fiscal year (leading up to March 2026), our team focused on providing practical legal support to facilitate balanced risk-taking across the holding company and its operating entities. A key project during this period was driving the legal preparation for the SPA with Chevron to acquire several downstream businesses in Southeast Asia and Australia, which was subsequently signed in May 2026.

Alongside transactional support, we served as the corporate secretariat for a board where 70% are independent outside directors, supporting the independent Board Chair and coordinating with the CEO to ensure effective deliberations. We also strengthened governance over subsidiaries and established a practical, group-wide compliance framework.

What are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

With wide-ranging operations and an increase in investment projects, the legal risks we manage are becoming more diverse and complex. In an environment that demands both speed and volume, leveraging legal technology is essential to optimize limited resources and focus on high-value, complex matters.

In this evolving landscape, I believe the most vital attributes for modern in-house counsel are integrity, ownership, and a growth mindset.

As technology advances, I see the value of an in-house professional in these qualities: providing fair and honest guidance based on one’s own integrity, which AI cannot do; taking proactive ownership to support business execution; and fostering a mindset that pursues not only individual expertise but also the collective growth of the organization through mutual support.

In-house counsel increasingly play the role of ‘translator’. How do you communicate complex legal advice to the board, key stakeholders and internally?

At ENEOS Holdings, the Legal Department also serves as the Corporate Secretariat. Therefore, our role as ‘translators’ to the board is not limited to providing purely legal advice.

With seven of our ten board members being independent outside directors, our primary responsibility is to extract the core issues that require board discussion within each agenda item and communicate them accurately.

To achieve this, when presenting matters to the board, we focus on objectively and clearly presenting the discussions and risk assessments that took place within the executive team. Furthermore, we work closely with the Board Chair prior to each meeting to support the Chair in ensuring effective deliberation by the board within the limited time.

To enable this process of extracting and translating issues to function properly as an organization, we believe it is essential to maintain our independence as the Corporate Secretariat from the executive side, and we always keep this in mind.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

Our legal department has a long-standing tradition of prioritizing people development, and I myself was raised in this environment.

Because of this background, I am passionate about building a team of professionals with a growth mindset. My goal is to foster an organisation where individuals expand their personal expertise through daily operations, while the team supports and complements one another to achieve collective growth and deliver sustained value to the business.