Hot CEOs
For 2023-2024, I consider the following the best of our best CEOs:
1. Ramon S. Ang, 69, vice chair, president and CEO of San Miguel Corp. In two decades, RSA has re-engineered SMC into a corporate colossus unmatched in assets (P2.3 trillion), revenues (P1.5 trillion), commanding presence in many strategic industries (airports – Boracay, Bulacan and possibly NAIA; food, beverages, infrastructure, mass transit, power, cement and battery storage) and corporate social responsibility spending, all for the primary purpose of making life better for the Filipino, thus redefining the existentialist purpose of business. New businesses account for 60 percent of revenues.
RSA has just been named by Forbes magazine a star of philanthropy for 2023, along with Asia’s great taipans.
Forbes says Ang, a self-made billionaire, this year pledged P500 million ($9 million) to build schools for underprivileged children in Manila. Ang announced the donation in September as he inaugurated a 39-classroom school in Tondo, one of the city’s poorest districts, where he grew up.
“I strongly believe that empowering a wide range of Filipinos with education and skills is key to unlocking the country’s potential,” RSA told the magazine. “This includes not only the youth but also adults in less privileged areas who seek better jobs or want to start their own businesses.”
Forbes puts RSA’s wealth at $3.4 billion. Says the magazine: “Since 2020, Ang, through his RSA Foundation, has personally contributed over P150 million to scholarship grants and medical aid. Separately, SMC’s San Miguel Foundation spent over P1 billion to build five schools in the Metro Manila region, while donating P14.8 billion to support relief measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and earmarking another P3 billion to help clean up the city’s rivers.”
2. Teresita Sy-Coson, 73, chairman of BDO and vice chairman of SM Investments Corp., is Asia’s most powerful businesswoman. She presides over a sprawling conglomerate that touches every sector of the economy and makes a difference for people, no matter their status in life. The companies are the most valuable in market cap. SM has got it all. BDO finds ways. SM Prime builds
