Liza’s work within the community means that she is widely recognised and highly regarded, both in social circles and by local and national organisations.  Liza has had a long association with Tourism Authority Thailand (TAT) and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Tourism from the Rajamangala University of Technology in 2023 in recognition of her services in promoting tourism in Thailand.

Yet Liza didn’t have a particularly privileged start to life. She was born in Ban Pong in Ratchaburi, west of Bangkok, a second child with a brother who was not even two years older than her. Both of Liza’s parents had some Chinese heritage, and certainly seemed to hold traditional Chinese values when it came to raising their children.  Liza understood from an early age that she was not as important in her parents’ eyes as her brother. As the elder child, and a boy, he was going to be the future of the family name, while she would eventually marry and so join another family’s lineage.  Liza was painfully aware of the unfairness of the preferential love and treatment her brother received.  This situation was at the very heart of Liza’s determination to be a success. She recalls that she and her brother had spats, like all siblings do, but that generally he was a good, protective brother to her shy, quiet self.  Liza knew her mother’s favouritism was not her brother’s fault.

Liza was still in middle school when her parents separated and then divorced, and she and her mother and brother lived with her Granny.  Some of Liza’s happiest childhood memories are of times shared with her Granny, who loved to sing with her and told wonderful stories. At the time, the family was not well-off, so Liza decided that she would leave school early so as not to be a financial burden on her single mother. Liza’s first job was working at the registration desk at a clinic, which she did in several different locations over many years.  Lisa was also employed for many years by a company, based in Bangkok, which installed tennis courts.  During these years Liza was deepening her understanding of the business environment in Thailand, in preparation for taking the reins herself. Liza had not abandoned her desire for further education, however, and continued to pursue her studies in the evening, graduating from secondary school at the age of 20, then continuing to higher education, initially at college, to study tourism, and then eventually at university.  Liza holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Theology, all her study self-funded as well as self-determined.  Liza is not impressed with the parenting skills of those who would like to pre-plan and predetermine every step of their child’s education and even subsequent career path, believing that to be too pushy and that children should have the right to enjoy their childhood without undue pressure from the adults in their lives. That said, of course, like any parent, Liza was glad she was able to ensure that her own children had ready and smooth access to all the educational opportunities they desired.

Liza has two children, Tom, who she adopted in her 20s while she was still single, and Amy, a daughter from her marriage to a British man, who was born some 12 years later. Although not her biological child, Tom is a blood relative and definitely a child of Liza’s dreams and her heart, and the family, which also includes Tom’s wife, happily share a home in Hua Hin.

Liza has had a number of different career focuses in her life. She determined that she needed to work for herself to achieve success and has started a number of business ventures, an early one being the sale of Thai silk at the well-known Pata shopping mall in Bangkok.  While Liza has highly developed business skills, she admits she has always been too trusting. She stopped her marketing and sales of Thai silk after she lost a significant proportion of her stock to a gang of thieves who distracted and then robbed her. While many would be unable to do so, Lisa has been able to forgive these thieves.

Another successful and profitable undertaking for Liza has been in the real estate market.  Liza is quick to sense the potential for profit and has spent many years speculating, buying and selling property, increasing her portfolio, some of which she is hopeful of passing to her children eventually. Yet none of these have been the major focus of her career success, which began with her accidental meeting of a British man in the reception area of her apartment block in Bangkok.

Already a financially and personally successful woman in her 30s, Liza was introduced to Frank Gilbride, a golfing professional who had recently returned to Thailand from Singapore.  Frank was immediately interesting in forming a relationship with Liza, who would find gifts of flowers awaiting her outside the door of her apartment when she returned at the end of the day. Initially, Liza was quite reluctant to even consider the possibility of having a western boyfriend, having heard stories about how fraught cross-cultural relationships can be. Another factor for Liza was that she doubted her mother would approve of the relationship.  Nevertheless, Frank was persistent in his pursuit of Liza, who eventually took Frank to Ban Pong to meet her mother. Still uncertain of how her mother would react, Frank was initially introduced as Liza’s English teacher, a subterfuge not dropped until the pair had had time to come to know each other well.  After an 18-month relationship and then a further engagement of 6 months, Liza and Frank married in 1992 and relocated to Hua Hin to start their joint business venture, which has been pivotal to the success and development of Hua Hin ever since.

The pair were perfectly suited to their new business venture.  Frank had the dream and the intimate understanding of what elements were necessary for a great golfing experience and Liza had detailed knowledge of how to effectively conduct business in Thailand, so in 1992, Hua Hin Golf Tours was officially launched.  Although Hua Hin is now renowned as a golfing destination, in the early 1990s, this was not the case, and Liza and Frank were pioneers. They faced a lot of scepticism and even some stubborn opposition.  Many were not willing to believe that Hua Hin could even be the site of a top-class golf course, while others claimed the courses were stealing water from local farmers and the community. There was also the perception that borrowing money from the bank to build golf courses would ultimately end in disaster. It took a lot of ingenuity and lobbying from Liza to bring people along with the idea of a golf tour company. An initial meeting with the deputy governors of Tourism Authority Thailand showed promise, and then Liza had the opportunity to pitch her innovative ideas to a larger group of people.

Liza had a vision of providing a full-service golf experience to international groups of golfing enthusiasts, and for that she needed to get Thai Airways on board. Over a period of several years, with persistent promotion including several prestigious tournaments, Liza and Frank were able to nurse their dream into reality, with the addition of Hua Hin Golf Villas as a subsidiary business to meet the accommodation and meals needs of their tour customers. The business has gone from strength to strength, gaining more of the international golf tour market share, however, like all businesses in the tourism industry, suffered a considerable hiatus at the hands of Covid. If you are an expat golfing enthusiast living in Thailand, it is likely the number and quality of local golf courses in Hua Hin and its environs which clinched your decision to move to the local area, and for that we all have to thank the foresight of Liza and Frank, whose ideas led to a proliferation of golf courses. Even today, only 20% of the customers of Hua Hin Golf Tours are Asian, coming from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, while the vast majority are Westerners, many from Scandinavia, who have a particular affection for Hua Hin.

For Liza, Hua Hin is her forever home, though it was a place she had never visited until she holidayed on its shores with a group of friends at about the age of 27.  At school, Liza’s favourite subject was geography, and the Hua Hin area has a beautiful range of geographic features, with its beaches, stunning headlands, lookouts, waterfalls and National Parks all in close proximity. Liza enjoys the ease of local life compared to Bangkok, and the feeling of community she experiences here in Hua Hin, which still manages to retain its village atmosphere, with a smile and a kind word to be had at every street corner. Reflecting on the life she has created for herself and her family, Liza is proud of the loving relationship she had with Frank, who passed away last November after an illness of four years. She sees raising her children as caring people with a good conscience as a very significant achievement in her life. Liza is humble about her many achievements and considers herself quite an ordinary person. She loves to surround herself with happy, laughing people and admits she probably attends too many parties.  Although she is deeply entrenched in the golf scene, she is not a sporty person herself, preferring attend afternoon tea parties and indulge in more cake than is good for her. Liza is kind, helpful, good fun and always positive, yet she also has a strong work ethic.  She believes that it is important not to let people down or make trouble.

Liza is well-travelled, having had yearly trips to England with Frank, and holidaying in Asian destinations such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia as well as India and a raft of European nations. Liza cites India as her favourite place in the world, other than Hua Hin of course, because of the spiritual feel of home she experienced there. Indeed, that experience must have been profound, as Liza is intent on taking up the life of a nun once she has retired from the business life.  She feels that her children are now firmly set on the right path in life, and that in her retirement she might be able to take more time to look, both inward and outward, in meditation, returning to a simpler state of being.

In the meantime, Liza is enjoying her family and the home she shares with them and her six cats, who are seemingly able to make all bad thoughts and feelings disappear. This is miraculous as Tom is somewhat allergic to cat hair. Liza likes to have her home light and welcoming and prefers to eat simple meals such as boiled eggs and fresh vegetables when she can. One of her favourite things to do is to go to the temple and offer food to the monks and allow herself time to pause and meditate, thankful for her good life, the prosperous businesses she created with her own hard work, her kind heart and her close, loving family.  Liza needs nothing more.