AEV will have new CEO by 2020; Sabin Aboitiz at helm during transition
With at least one-year transition, the Aboitiz Group will have its new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by January 1, 2020 – with another fourth generation family member-executive Sabin M. Aboitiz holding the reins.
The conglomerate announced that this was decided by the Aboitiz Equity Venture’s (AEV) board of directors on December 11 this year.
Sabin, or SMA to Aboitiz executives and employees, will be taking the helm that has been held for more than a decade by his brother Erramon I. Aboitiz, who will also be retiring on January 1, 2020.
The board of AEV has similarly approved the appointment of Endika M. Aboitiz as chairman, succeeding Jon Ramon Aboitiz who suddenly passed on last November 30.
The other appointees who had secured the board’s thumbs up had been Mikel A. Aboitiz as Vice Chairman; and Ana A. Delgado as a new Board Member.
The Aboitiz group’s succession planning started about 2-3 years ago both for its 2020 batch of new leadership and also for their next generation of familyanchored corporate executives.
As noted by current CEO Erramon, the company can take pride of its “seamless succession and transition to the next generation of leaders.”
He added that this strategy – which has already been running for a century in their Aboitiz-bannered businesses, guarantees “the continuity as well as the evolution of our culture, our policies and how we do business.”
Sabin himself has already been with the group for more than three decades - entrenched into various management posts in the company’s array of business interests such as in the food, infrastructure and previously their shipping business.
He is currently the CEO of the Aboitiz Group’s InfraCapital which is their infrastructure investment arm; and Pilmico which is the group’s food business unit.
The Aboitiz group’s biggest portfolio is still in the power industry, but they had been gaining traction in years in pursuing organic growth of other business interests, primarily in the food and infrastructure sectors.