Tan new CEO of HI

The board of Yuchengco-led House of Investments (HI) has appointed former banker Lorenzo Tan as its new president and chief executive officer effective July 19.

This marks Tan’s return to the Yuchengco group of companies (YGC) three years after stepping down as president of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) at the height of the Bangladesh Bank controversy.

HI operates as an investment holding and management company with a diversified portfolio and is one of the four major flagship corporations of YGC.

Its core business focus is organized into four segments, namely: construction and infrastructure (EEI Corp.), education (iPeople Inc.), property services (Landev Corp. and RCBC Realty Corp.) and car dealerships (Honda and Isuzu). It has portfolio interests in renewable energy (PetroEnergy Resources Corp.), after-life services (Manila Memorial Park Cemetery Inc. and La Funeraria Paz-Sucat Inc.) and pharmaceuticals (HI-EISAI Pharmaceutical Inc.).

“He now carries on the task of continuing to steer House of Investments Inc. forward, honoring the legacy of the company’s outgoing president Mr. Medel T. Nera,” HI said in a press statement on Friday.

Tan graduated from De La Salle University with a BS degree in Accounting and Commerce and earned his MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

He is a certified public accountant, both in the Philippines and in the United States. He started his banking career at Citibank New York, Los Angeles and Singapore.

Prior to this appointment, Tan served as managing director at Primeiro Partners, a leading independent investment bank focused on Asia-Pacific.

Tan was also the president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines and chair of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA). He served as president and CEO of RCBC for nine years. He was also CEO of Sun Life Financial Philippines, Philippine National Bank, and United Coconut Planters Bank.

“A highly respected executive in the banking and financial industry, Mr. Lorenzo V. Tan is known for being ‘Mr. Turnaround,’ a reputation he gained after successfully improving the performance of every organization that he has led. Notably, he became the youngest president of a universal bank in the Philippines at the age of 37, an unprecedented moment for the industry,” HI said.

“With Mr. Lorenzo V. Tan at its helm, House of Investments Inc. is taking confident strides as the decade turns, reaffirming its position as an industry leader,” the company added. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA