Jaza replaces brother as ALI execom chair

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala Corp. chairman and Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) vice chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel De Ayala has been elected chairman of ALI’s executive committee to serve the unexpired term of Fernando Zobel De Ayala.

Fernando, 62, president and CEO of Ayala Corp., and chairman of ALI, took an indefinite medical leave last Aug. 15. He also resigned as chairman and member of the executive committee of ALI, the listed property giant of Ayala Corp. He remains the chairman of ALI.

In a disclosure yesterday, ALI’s board of directors elected Jaime Augusto Zobel as chairman of the executive committee and member of the personnel and compensation committee.

The board likewise elected Rex Ma. Mendoza as member of the executive committee.

As endorsed by ALI’s corporate governance and nomination committee, its board of directors likewise elected Cezar Consing and Mariana Zobel de Ayala as advisors to the ALI board effective immediately until the next organizational meeting of the company’s board.

Consing is a director of Ayala Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom Inc. and ACEN Corp. He served as president and CEO of BPI from 2013 to 2021, and chairman and president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines from 2019 to 2021.

He has been elected acting president of Ayala Corp. since August 15.

Mariana Zobel de Ayala, daughter of Jaime Augusto Zobel, is a director of AREIT Inc. and a senior vice president at BPI for Consumer Bank.

She also serves as a director and advisory committee member of a number of Ayala Group companies in real estate, banking, asset management and healthcare.

Fernando Zobel took over the helm of Ayala as CEO in April 2021, succeeding his brother Jaime Augusto Zobel.

In a little over a year, he has already successfully steered the conglomerate through the challenging COVID-19 pandemic and has likewise led Ayala’s major move of unloading some of its non-core assets to focus on its core business.

He earlier set a target from the sale of these non-core assets, saying it could reach $1 billion by 2023 from $420 million as of early this year.

Outside Ayala, Fernando’s other directorships include Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (independent director); Hero Foundation (chairman of the board of trustees); Bonifacio Art Foundation (vice-chairman of the board of trustees) and Berkshires Holdings Inc. (director, vice-chairman of the board of directors).