Lopez receives Management Man of the Year award

MANILA, Philippines — First Philippine Holdings chair and CEO Federico Lopez received last Monday, Nov. 23 the “MAP Management Man of the Year” award in a virtual ceremony held by the Management Association of the Philippines.

The “MAP Management Man of the Year” is a prestigious award that MAP bestows on individuals in the business community or government for attaining unquestioned distinction in the practice of management and for contributing to the country’s progress.

Accepting the award, Mr. Lopez thanked the MAP “…for honoring our journey with this award. It’s finally made sense of the times when we felt like the faint voice in the wilderness and our view of the world may not have been mainstream. Thankfully, the winds are changing profoundly now. But no matter where each of us are in this continuum of belief today, I feel with a mix of certainty and hope that we will all be helping each other along this same road very soon. We look forward to building those collaborative pathways with as many kindred spirits as we can.”

Lopez also said it was no longer appropriate to use the word “sustainable” in a world that’s so badly in need of healing and renewal. As such, they took on the challenge of using the word “regenerative” instead, with all the responsibility it carries.

“We are not a full-on regenerative company today; no one is yet. But we chose it deliberately to signal to our people that they have a license to adopt this new mindset as our inherent way of doing business and that it’s OK for them to ‘bring their values to work’ every day. Being regenerative doesn’t scale if it only comes from the top; it has to permeate the organization and how it does business day to day,” he said.

MAP earlier said Mr. Lopez was chosen for the following:

1. For passionately pushing for the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy through his various advocacies to proactively address the irreparable damage of climate change.

2. For championing the power industry’s deregulation for the benefit of the country.

3. For steering the Lopez Group to being in the forefront of energy security and sustainability, and clean technologies for renewable energy and natural gas.

4. For developing a deep bench of Filipino technical and managerial talent who are globally competitive.

5. For his leadership role in the substantial contributions of the Lopez Group to national development in terms of production, value added, income generation and job creation.

6. For his contribution to long-term positive development of society through his undertakings on technical-vocational education, youth development, community-based livelihood programs, scholarship opportunities for musicians, and research projects on environmental protection.

7. For setting an example for Filipino managers through a track record of integrity, entrepreneurial excellence, professional competence and great leadership in his management career.