PLDT says CEO retiring; top-level revamp set

PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno (center) is set to retire by the end of 2015, the telecommunications company announced Tuesday. INQUIRER FILE

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) announced a revamp in top management Tuesday as its president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said he would be retiring by the end of 2015.

PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan will assume the role of president and CEO while heading a search for Nazareno’s successor, a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange showed.

Nazareno is credited with steering PLDT to become the country’s biggest telecommunications services provider. More recently, he oversaw the company’s transition “from an overwhelmingly voice-driven service to a broadband data-powered business.”

“This formidable task required not only converting PLDT’s legacy landline system into an all-internet protocol next generation network but, more importantly, reinvigorating the structure and culture of PLDT into a much more market-driven, customer-centric organization,” PLDT said in a separate statement.

Nazareno, known to colleagues by his nickname “Polly,” was also instrumental in restructuring Piltel’s

debts in 2001, the largest debt restructuring in the country that was done on a consensual basis.

“He oversaw the integration of both Piltel and Digitel [Sun Cellular] with Smart, ensuring that the expanded organization sustained its position as the foremost wireless service provider,” PLDT said.

PLDT said Nazareno was due for mandatory retirement in 2014 although he was asked to stay another year to launch the company’s transition into the digital age.
PLDT said Nazareno would remain in the Board of Directors of PLDT until a replacement was appointed. He would also remain as non-executive director of First Pacific Co. Ltd. and a member of the board of directors of Rocket Internet.

“We are fortunate to have continued access to his wealth of experience and expertise as he assumes this strategic role at a crucial point in PLDT’s evolution,” PLDT said in the statement.