Business leaders unite for 11th Asia CEO Awards

MANILA, Philippines — The Asia CEO Awards (ACA) brought together over a hundred industry leaders and top executives during its virtual launch last June 18.    

Now on its 11th year, the largest business awards in the Asia Pacific region continues its mission of celebrating grand achievements for nation-building.

ACA Chairman Richard Mills believes that this is an opportunity to recognize extraordinary leaders who have demonstrated outstanding successes for their organizations and contributions to others.

“We want whole country and region to acknowledge the most accomplished leadership teams and individuals by offering a wide range of highly competitive awards,” he said.

Embracing the theme “United Towards the First World,” ACA lives up to its purpose of promoting the Philippines as a premier business destination for global enterprises.

Joining ACA as title sponsor is leading telecommunications and digital services provider in the Philippines’ corporate business unit, PLDT Enterprise.

“We believe that we can further make a positive impact on every single business by forging real partnerships with like-minded enterprises through ACA,” shared Jovy Hernandez, president and chief executive officer of ePLDT, and concurrently senior vice president and head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups.

“This is a chance for business people to show how driven they are in leading this country back to employment and prosperity for all Filipinos,” said Rebecca Bustamante, president of ACA.

Award categories

Local and multinational organizations presented this year’s ACA categories such as the Ernst & Young Global Services Young Leader of the Year, with Gemma Gaerlan, chief operations officer; Wellness Company of the Year; Insular Life SHERO of the Year, with Nina Aguas, executive chairman; JLL Expatriate Executive of the Year, with Christophe Vicic, country head; LBC Business Solutions Small and Medium Enterprises Company of the Year, with Javy Mantecon, head of marketing; Multisys Technologies Executive Leadership Team of the Year, with David Almirol, chief executive officer; Regus Entrepreneur of the Year, with Lars Wittig, country head, SVP Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Furthermore, awards categories announced were the Sitel Service Excellence Company of the Year, with Haidee Enriquez, chief people officer; Smart Enterprise Global Filipino Executive of the Year, with Jovy Hernandez, president and chief executive officer of ePLDT Group; SPi Global Top Employer of the Year, with Celeste Ilagan, senior vice president for marketing/external affairs; Sprout Solutions Technology Company of the Year, with Patrick Gentry, chief executive officer; Teletech Diversity Company of the Year; with Arthur Nowak, senior vice president for Asia Pacific; United Neon Most Innovative Company of the Year; with Alpha Allanigui, chief relations officer; and World Vision Corporate Social Responsibility Company of the Year, with Rommel Fuerte, national director.

Partners include Marriott Manila as official venue; Price Waterhouse Cooper Philippines as official knowledge partner, and CNN Philippines, Business World and Business Mirror as official media partners.

Board of judges

The esteemed judges of the Asia CEO Awards are Dr. Bernie Villegas, vice president of the University of Asia and the Pacific; Cesar Purisima, former Secretary of the Department of Finance; Darlene Berberabe, former chief executive officer of Pag-IBIG Fund; Don Felbaum, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Jose Cuisia, former Philippine Ambassador to the USA and former Bangko Sentral Governor.

Completing its roster of judges are Architect Jun Palafox, founder and chief executive officer of Palafox Associates; Marife Zamora, former managing director of Convergys; Oscar Sanez, former president of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines; and Richard Mills, former president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

To nominate entries and be updated about the Asia CEO Awards, visit www.asia-ceo-awards.org/nominations or like www.facebook.com/AsiaCeoAwards. Deadline for the submission of entries this year is on August 14, while the awards night will be on October 13.