Mark Lopez is new ABS-CBN chairman

ABS-CBN Corp.’s board of directors elected Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III as chairman emeritus at the company’s organizational meeting yesterday.

In the same meeting, Martin “Mark” Lopez was elected chairman of the board. Mark succeeds Gabby as chairman of the ABSCBN board of directors as part of the company’s succession planning process.

Gabby, who turned 65 last August and is the second chairman emeritus in the company’s history, will remain as a director.

His father Eugenio Lopez Jr. – fondly known as Kapitan Geny – was given the same title after Gabby was elected chairman in 1997.

“I accept this huge responsibility of carrying on the company’s vision of being in the service of the Filipino – using the blueprint of excellence and innovation set by Gabby,” said Mark, who was identified as a successor as early as five years ago.

Prior to joining ABS-CBN, Mark spent 13 years at MERALCO where he eventually assumed the role of vice president and chief information officer and concurrent to his role as CIO, he also served as the president of eMeralco Ventures, Inc. until 2010. /