JOSEPH ARANETA GAMBOA l November 23, 2022 l Business Mirror
FOR the third consecutive year, the search for the “CFO of the Year” will focus on game-changing Chief Finance Officers in the Philippines.
Presented through a permanent partnership between Dutch financial giant ING Bank N.V. and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex), the ING-Finex “CFO of the Year” award is the country’s longest-running and only search that honors outstanding Filipino financial leaders.
The 16th edition of this annual search will culminate on November 24, 2022, during the awarding ceremony at the Palacio de Memoria along Roxas Boulevard, Parañaque City. It has gone a long way since 2006, when Finex started the tradition of recognizing the top financial stewards of the land and handed the first “CFO of the Year” Award in 2007.
In 2020, the trilogy of awarding the best game-changing CFO began during the pandemic. That year, the focus was on the game-changer who guided the transition between the old and new normal while in 2021, it was about the game-changer directing the new order. For 2022, the search will honor the game-changer who continues to lead and evolve with the ever-changing times.
Finex Foundation and the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business have come up with clearly defined qualitative and quantitative criteria for the search. The selection process gives equal weight to the CFO’s performance in four significant roles: strategist, catalyst, steward and operator. It also involves a stringent endorsement and nomination process, with a rigorous set of panel interviews to determine the awardee.
Fifteen CFOs have won the trophy designed by renowned sculptor Ramon Orlina over the past decade and a half. In chronological order, they are: Delfin C. Gonzalez Jr. of Globe Telecom Inc.; Sherisa P. Nuesa of Manila Water Co.; Jose T. Sio of SM Investments Corp.; Ysmael V. Baysa of Jollibee Foods Corp.; Jeffrey C. Lim of SM Prime Holdings Inc.; Felipe S. Yalong of GMA Holdings Inc.; Jose Jerome R. Pascual III of Shell Philippines Exploration BV; Luis Juan B. Oreta of Manila Water; Danny Y. Yu of Philex Mining Corp.; Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco of Ayala Corp.; Ferdinand K. Constantino of San Miguel Corp.; Augusto D. Bengzon of Ayala Land Inc.; Mylene A. Kasiban of Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc.; and, Anabelle Lim-Chua of PLDT Inc.
Finex-CSBank collaboration
IT’S all systems go for the joint financial literacy project between Finex and CityState Savings Bank (CSBank). Dubbed as “PeraPera,” the column on personal finance to be written by Finex members will debut next month in the Pilipino Mirror, targeting the CDE socio-economic demographics. It will be followed in early 2023 by a radio program over DWIZ-AM and a podcast on the social media accounts of the ALC Group of Companies, which CSBank is a part of.
Other media assets of the ALC Group include the BusinessMirror, CNN Philippines, Aliw Broadcasting Corp.’s 97.9FM Home Radio and the Philippines Graphic magazine. The conglomerate founded by the late Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon is also engaged in the automotive, education, insurance, security, property and hotel industries.
Recently, the ALC Group collaborated with the Department of Education (DepEd) External Partnership Service in conducting a meeting of stakeholders and partners to call for private sector support for schools that were affected by a series of devastating typhoons. DepEd Directors Ronilda R. Co and Edel B. Carag led the event, which was held at the Citystate Tower Hotel in Ermita, Manila.
*** Joseph Gamboa is the chairman of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines Media Affairs Committee and director of Noble Asia Industrial Corp. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph