Sun Life’s Mantaring is new MAP president
Rizalina “Riza” Gervasio Mantaring is the President of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) for 2019. She is the 70th President and the 4th Woman President of the MAP since its inception in 1950.
Ms. Mantaring is the Chair of Sun Life Financial Philippine Holding Co., a Director at Sun Life Grepa Financial, and the Chair of Sun Life Foundation.
She started her career in Information Technology (IT) and she joined Sun Life in 1992 as Senior Manager and Head for Asia Pacific of the then Nascent Information Systems Department. She built the IT function in Asia, managing the turnover from Toronto and Montreal to Manila as the hub for IT activity in the region. She gradually took on increasing responsibilities until she became Chief Operations Officer for Asia in 2008, Deputy President for Sun Life Philippines in March 2009, then CEO and Country Head from August 2009 to June 2018. She was also the Chair of the 12 Sun Life Prosperity Funds aside from being a Director of the various Sun Life companies. During her term, Sun Life implemented numerous industry firsts and innovations which paved the way for its leadership in the industry.
During her term as CEO, Sun Life’s market profile and brand strength significantly increased, with the pioneering and multiawarded “It’s Time!” financial literacy advocacy campaign and the record-high increase in agency manpower numbers and sales. The company also entered bancassurance with the creation of Sun Life Grepa Financial.
Under her leadership, Sun Life won numerous prestigious awards, including the Life Insurance Company of the Year Award given at the 19th Asia Insurance Industry Awards (the first Filipino company to do so) and the 2015 Employer of the Year Award bestowed by People Management Association of the Philippines (the first life insurance company to win).
Her own accomplishments have likewise been recognized by prestigious award-giving bodies, among which were the Asia Talent Management award at CNBC’s 2017 Asia Business Leader Awards and the CEO Excel Award from the International Association of Business CommunicatorsPhilippines.
She is an independent director of Ayala Land, First Philippine Holdings, and MicroVentures Foundation. She is also a Board member of Makati Business Club and Philippine Business for Education.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines (UP) with a BS Electrical Engineering degree (cum laude), she has an MS Computer Science from The State University of New York at Albany and is a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (with distinction). In 2010, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the UP College of Engineering, she was named one of the College’s 100 Most Outstanding Alumni of the Past Century.
In her spare time, she runs and is one of only a handful of Filipino Six Stars, having completed the marathons in Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin, London and Tokyo.
Ms. Mantaring will lead the MAP in 2019 along with other Board members including Atty. Francisco “Francis” Ed. Lim, Senior Partner of ACCRALAW, as VP; Atty. Benedicta “Dick” Du-Baladad, Managing Partner and CEO OF Du-Baladad and Associates, as Treasurer; Mr. Cesar G. Romero, Country Chair of Shell Companies in the Philippines, as Asst. Treasurer, and Ms. Maria Carolina “Carol” V. Dominguez, President and CEO of John Clements Consultants, as Secretary.
The other Board members are Mr. Jose Rene Gregory “Rene” D. Almendras, President and CEO of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Mr. John Philip “Jp” S. Orbeta, Managing Director and Head of Corporate Resources Group of Ayala Corporation, Mr. Justo “Tito” A. Ortiz, Chair and CEO of UnionBank of the Philippines, and Gov. Amando “Say” M. Tetangco, Jr., Member of the Board of Directors of Philippine Airlines (PAL).