RHI Readies for ASEAN Integration with New Promotions, Appointments

Makati—(PHStocks)—Listed sugar producer Roxas Holdings Inc. (PSE: ROX) recently announced promotions and new appointments across the Group.

In a statement, RHI President/CEO Renato C. Valencia said that RHI is in a hurry to make sure the right people are in place so the organization will be ready for the ASEAN integration in 2015.

Luis O. Villa-Abrille is promoted Senior Vice President for Quality Assurance and Business Development, and will remain as concurrent President/COO of the Group’s ethanol plant, Roxol Bioenergy Corporation in La Carlota, Negros Occidental. Quality Assurance and Business Development is one of the newly re-aligned divisions of RHI. Under his watch, RBC declared its first ever net income through improved operational efficiency and reduced plant shutdowns.

Valencia also announced the appointment of Juan Miguel J. Araneta, who used to head Purchasing, Logistics and Special Projects, as Senior Vice President for Supply Chain and Special Projects, one of the divisions that were realigned to enable total supply chain management where purchasing, logistics and other areas function as one integrated chain. The unit is considered critical as RHI eyes to create a strong presence in the Asia Pacific Region. Both Villa-Abrille and Araneta joined RHI in June 2013.

Last month, RHI Chairman Pedro E. Roxas announced the appointments of key officers, namely: Arcadio Lozada Jr. as President & COO of Central Azucarera Don Pedro Inc. (CADPI), a subsidiary, and concurrently, Group EVP for Operations effective 1 January 2014; Ferdinand Joseph T. Escobal as SVP for Corporate Planning, Research, Communications, and CSR; and Felixberto T. Monasterio as VP for Feedstock Supply, and concurrently, Group Deputy Head for Marketing & Trading.

Lozada is an industry veteran who has worked in various sugar organizations here and abroad. Escobal is a seasoned corporate planning and communications professional who has institutionalized best practice strengths-based strategic thinking for leading organizations in the ASEAN region. Monasterio is a former banker and an agribusiness specialist who served as Executive Director of the Sugar Master Plan Foundation Inc.