Putting an extra to the ordinary

Jaeger Tanco —Photo by Lyn Rillon

People who have seen one—or both—of Jaeger Tanco’s superhero-decked offices will easily deduce the 37-year-old CEO’s passions: comic books and graphic novels.

“I’m a kid at heart—I still read comic books. My favorite novel is a graphic novel. I can go from mainstream [titles] to indie,” Tanco says.

Such interest may seem like a mere pastime to some, but for Tanco, it also influences how he works.

His favorite superhero is Batman, precisely because there’s nothing really “super” about him; he’s simply “an ordinary man doing extraordinary things with his resources,” says Tanco.

As president and CEO of Philippine Life Assurance Corp. and PhilhealthCare Inc. (PhilCare), vice chair of PhilPlans First Inc., director of PhilsFirst Insurance Corp., president of Maestro Holdings, and president and CEO of Comm&Sense Inc., Tanco strives to do the same: find new, extraordinary ways to provide his clients the best services he can offer.

Technology, he says, helps him a lot when it comes to creating new kinds of products, particularly in insurance.

Such products include PhilCare’s affordable prepaid health insurance cards, which the HMO first introduced in 2010. These cards, which cover emergency cases, hospitalization and consultation with accredited doctors, now come in digital form and can be bought online on PhilCare’s website.

PhilCare also has an app called HeyPhil, which acts as one’s personal assistant when it comes to providing information on nearby hospitals, finding accredited doctors, as well as generating the necessary Letter of Authorization (LOA) for one’s healthcare transaction.

Tanco says that while these products are meant to take the company forward, their creation has a higher purpose: to help Filipinos.

“It’s part of our social responsibility,” Tanco adds.

While most of the companies he oversees are concerned with financial services, Tanco’s “baby,” so to speak, is marketing communications firm Comm&Sense Inc., which he cofounded over a decade ago with his friend, Charlotte Fabian-Reyes.

Tapping into his creative side, Tanco, together with Reyes, grew Comm&Sense from a small team of three working in an office with “just an old sofa,” to a competitive player in the marketing and communications industry. Comm&Sense recently won Quill Awards for its campaigns for PhilLife Financial, WCC Aviation Company, and PhilCare, as well as an Anvil for its work for Saranggani Bay Prime Bangus.

“In the beginning, our sister companies worked with us [as our clients]. But in the past five to seven years, our portfolio grew, such that our sister companies comprised only a small percentage [of our clients], while the rest were markets outside the family business,” Tanco says. “[The company] has made a name for itself in the industry. That’s something that I am personally very proud of. There’s a thrill in growing something out of nothing.”

“Jaeger always has a question, a suggestion, and that pushes Comm&Sense to always do better,” Reyes adds. “His creative side gets nurtured in Comm&Sense, and I think that balances him as a leader of many companies.”

More than just growing his family’s businesses, the son of businessman Eusebio Tanco says it is important for him to maintain solid relationships with clients.

“It’s all about servicing the client well, and therefore growing with them,” he says.

As a leader, Tanco highly appreciates, too, the relationship he has with his staff, without whom he wouldn’t be able to run all his companies.

“I am lucky enough to get good people who have the same values I uphold—integrity, loyalty and honesty,” says Tanco.

His comic book hero would be proud.