Ayala Corporation revealed more about its succession plan with the announcement that Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA) will be giving up his concurrent position as Chief Executive Officer in favor of his brother, Ayala President Fernando Zobel de Ayala (FZA).
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Ayala said JAZA transition will focus on his role as Chairman of the Board effective April 23, 2021, after the 2021 Annual Stockholders Meeting.
Ayala’s Board of Directors has unanimously approved the Company's CEO Succession Plan whereby President and Chief Operating Officer FZA, will become President and CEO, effective April 23, 2021 after the 2021 Annual Stockholders Meeting.
JAZA will retain all their current positions, as Chairman or Vice-Chairman, in the various subsidiary boards of the Ayala group of companies.
“At Ayala, it is our leaders’ responsibility to nurture talent and plan paths of succession. In this regard, I see myself as no different from our leaders past and present,” said JAZA.
He added that, “Fernando and I are very fortunate to work with a deep leadership bench; and we are confident that planned leadership transitions such as this are critical ingredients for sustainable success.
“Moreover, we have the opportunity, with this move of decoupling the Chairman and CEO roles, to reflect an evolving global best practice in Environment, Social and Corporate Governance.”
JAZA noted that, “Fernando has successfully provided leadership across a variety of the Ayala group companies for more than two decades, and he is eminently suited to continue providing executive momentum in his new role as President and CEO of Ayala. Both Fernando and I have worked as a leadership team for many years now, and we intend to continue charting Ayala’s path forward in tandem.”
“It is an honor to continue leading this company with an outstanding and trusted team on our side. Together, we have worked hard to build on the many successes of those who came before us; and are committed to continuing to improve lives and create value for our next generations of colleagues, their families, our broad ecosystem of stakeholders and our Country,” said FZA.
He added that, “I would like to thank Jaime for his many contributions as CEO; and commend him for his continuing commitment to live out the values of his recognition as a United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Pioneer in 2017, the first such honoree from Southeast Asia. I am reassured that he will continue to provide guidance in this next phase of our company’s growth.”
Earlier, Ayala Corporation announced that it will be appointing its Chief Finance Officer Jose Teodoro “TG” K. Limcaoco as the new President of Bank of the Philippine Islands next year.
In a statement, the firm said Ayala Chairman and Chief Executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala announced the succession plan for the group’s CFO.
BPI’s Board of Directors has approved their CEO succession plan whereby Limcaoco will succeed Cezar P. Consing as President and CEO of BPI, after the BPI stockholders’ meeting set for April 22, 2021. Limcaoco concurrently holds the positions of Chief Risk Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer of Ayala Corporation.