The chairman of the Philippines’ PLDT, Manuel Pangilinan, is set to succeed retiring president and CEO Napoleon (“Polly”) Nazareno until a permanent replacement is found. The incumbent telco is on the hunt for a new leader with digital experience.
The chairman of the Philippines’ PLDT (PSE:TEL), Manuel Pangilinan (pictured), is set to succeed retiring president and CEO Napoleon (“Polly”) Nazareno until a permanent replacement is found.
Nazareno’s retirement is effective 31st December, after which he will become a strategic advisor to the company, the Philippine incumbent said in a stock exchange filing.
He had been due to retire in 2014 but the board asked him to stay on for another year so he could launch the company’s digital transformation programme and work on a succession plan.
He will remain a director of PLDT until a replacement is appointed, also retaining his role as a non-executive director of shareholder First Pacific Company (SEHK:142), which has a 25.6% stake in the telco, and a board member of Rocket Internet.
PLDT noted that Nazareno led the company’s transition from a voice-driven service to a “broadband-powered” business, and that wireless unit Smart had became the country’s mobile market leader during his tenure.
Pangilinan, currently chairman of the boards of PLDT and Smart, will start as president and CEO of the group on 1 January 2016.
PLDT noted that, in his 12 years as chair, Pangilinan has played an active role in strategic goal setting and operations.
He will manage the search for a new president and CEO as part of the governance and nomination committee – a process initiated by Nazareno in 2014.
Pangilinan was cited by local media saying that the telco is “not in a hurry” to appoint a new head and that the most important prerequisite is that that they have digital experience. He added that it would make a welcome change if the new president and CEO came from within PDLT.
Pangilinan is currently CEO and managing director of First Pacific, a Hong Kong-based investment management and holding company. An alumni of the Ateneo de Manila University and University of Pennsylvania, he has previously worked for Philippine Investment Management Consultants and then Bancom International and American Express Bank.
