Manila Bourse Brings In Governance, Technology Heavyweights to Steer Next Phase
The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. refreshed its leadership ranks with the election of three new directors, adding international governance, artificial intelligence and capital-markets expertise to its 15-member board while keeping its top executives in place. Ramon Monzon was retained as president and chief executive officer and Jose T. Pardo as chair at the bourse operator’s annual stockholders’ meeting, where shareholders approved the appointments of Jikyeong Kang, Niek Johan van Veen and Lorenzo Andres (Randy) Roxas.
Kang, president and dean of the Asian Institute of Management since 2015, and technology specialist van Veen joined the exchange as independent directors, replacing Vincent Panlilio and columnist Ed Lacson. Monzon said Kang’s international background and roles in global academic organizations are expected to strengthen governance at the exchange. Van Veen, who has more than two decades of experience in technology, data and telecommunications and serves in a senior role at AI consultancy Thinking Machines Data Science, was brought in to support the PSE’s digital and artificial intelligence initiatives.
Roxas, managing director and nominee of Philippine Equity Partners Inc., will take the regular board seat vacated by former PSE president Wilson Sy, who is stepping back for health reasons. Roxas holds multiple board positions across financial and energy companies and sits on an advisory board for a business park operator, adding broader capital-markets and corporate oversight experience to the PSE. They join existing directors including Ma. Vivian Yuchengco, Anthony M. Te, Eddie T. Gobing, Diosdado M. Arroyo, Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso, Marilyn A. Victorio-Aquino and Cecile C. Ang, along with independent directors Jaime J. Bautista, Peter B. Favila and Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro.
Monzon framed the appointments of Kang and van Veen as central to the exchange’s efforts to operate more like a technology-driven platform, noting that all of its trading infrastructure is IT-based and that the PSE had “really sought out a director” to guide its artificial-intelligence and broader digital strategy. The board reshuffle comes as the local bourse operator reported a 49.9% jump in first-quarter net income to ₱381.71 million from ₱254.67 million a year earlier, supported by an 18.5% rise in revenues to ₱746.81 million on the back of stronger trading activity at both the PSE and Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. despite the onset of conflict in the Middle East.
