BIZ BUZZ: Almendras hangs up Ayala hat

Not a few tears were shed during the touching retirement ceremony in honor of Rene Almendras, who is stepping down as senior managing director and group head of public affairs of Ayala Corp.

Almendras joined the Ayala Group in January 2001 when he was appointed chief executive officer of Cebu Holdings Inc. and Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. He took on different roles in the succeeding years, including CEO of Manila Water Co.

He did take a six-year break from 2010 to 2016 as he was called up to join the administration of his friend, the late former President Benigno Aquino III. He took on different roles there as well, among them secretary to the Cabinet.

But even if he had held top posts in both the government and in the private sector, the proud Cebuano has been known to be among the most approachable of the top Ayala executives, able to relate to everyone up and down the corporate ladder.

This is not difficult for Almendras who believes that “You can be significant no matter how lowly your position or how simple your role when you affect others positively.”

Informed sources told Biz Buzz that Almendras’ retirement—to be followed by the retirement next year of Globe Telecom CEO Ernest Cu— means that the changing of the guard at the country’s oldest conglomerate is almost complete.

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What will Almendras do next? For now, what is sure is that he will join the boards of the Center for Family Ministries of the Ateneo de Manila University and the Institute for Regional Security in Canberra, Australia.

He has also been asked to stay on at Ayala as a part-time consultant. But will he eventually join corporate boards outside the Ayala Group? Only time will tell.