Doris Magsaysay Ho: Hardworking visionary

Doris Magsaysay Ho

Business leader and philanthropist Doris Magsaysay Ho exemplifies how a Filipina can excel in multiple male-dominated industries with multinational operations.

People who have worked with her describe her as a hardworking visionary—one who thinks big but can sweat the small stuff. She is president and CEO of A. Magsaysay Inc., which began as a shipowner and ship manager but later on expanded into serving the highly competitive industries of hospitality and tourism, transport and logistics, health care, oil and gas, as well as specialized engineering and trade.

Her group is especially known across the region for maritime crew welfare management.

She leads a network of offices in the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Croatia, Greece and Spain. She also chairs publicly listed Lorenzo Shipping Corp., which offers containerized cargo transport service.

Under her people-focused leadership, the Magsaysay group has been awarded the following: Seatrade Asia Award for Education and Training in 2010; the Lloyd’s List Global Training Award in 2011, 2013 and 2014; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Business Advisory Council Award for CSR (corporate social responsibility) in 2013; and the Intel-AIM CSR Award in 2014.

Magsaysay Ho, who holds a master’s degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute in New York, is a recipient of international and local awards, such as Safety4Sea (2022); MVP Grand Bossing Award (2018); Seatrade Personality of the Year (2012); and Lloyd’s List Asia Lifetime Achievement Award (2011).

Beyond her business interests, Magsaysay Ho puts her heart into helping forge closer ties between Asia and the West through arts, education, policy and business outreach as board trustee of New York-based nonprofit and nonpartisan international institution Asia Society. She also chairs its local arm Asia Society Philippines.

She uses her vast network and influence to support other key advocacies like transport infrastructure development, women empowerment, sustainability, and promotion of arts and culture, and is active in many other nonprofit and business organizations.

In November 2015, President Benigno Aquino III conferred on her the Order of Gawad Mabini with the rank of Commander, in recognition of her role as the workhorse of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council during his administration.

Magsaysay Ho’s renown and influence has gone beyond business and philanthropic circles. In his new novel “Rich People Problems,” bestselling author Kevin Kwan (“Crazy Rich Asians”) took inspiration in creating the fictional Filipino character Doris Hoh mentioned in the book from—you guessed right—the formidable Doris Magsaysay Ho. INQ