Eugenio Lopez III

Eugenio López III
Born	Eugenio Gabriel L. López III November 4, 1952 Manila, Philippines
Residence	Manila
Alma mater	Bowdoin College Harvard Business School
Occupation	Chairman of ABS-CBN Corporation Vice chairman of Lopez Holdings Corporation Director of First Gen Corporation, First Philippine Holdings Corporation, Sky Vision Corporation Chairman of Sky Cable Corporation Board of Directors of INAEC Aviation Corportaion
Net worth	US$90 million (2011)[1]
Spouse(s)	Babsie Chuidian Panjee Gonzales
Children	Sarah Lopez Weston Eugenio López IV Santiago López Andres López
Parent(s)	Eugenio Lopez, Jr. Conchita La'O
Website	corporate.abs-cbn.com/about-us/our-leadership

Eugenio López III, (Eugenio Gabriel L. López III or Gabby López; born August 13, 1952) , is the current chairman of ABS-CBN Corporation, the largest entertainment and media conglomerate in the Philippines, with investments primarily in television, radio, cable telecommunications, and film production. He is also director and treasurer of López Holdings Corporation (formerly Benpres Holdings Corporation).

Biography

López became the chairman and chief executive officer of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation in 1996, when his father, the late Eugenio “Geny” López, Jr. turned over the reins of the family-owned company to the younger López, who had been president of the company from 1993 to 1996. Gabby, being the eldest child, was being groomed by his father to be his heir apparent just like what his late grandfather did to his father then. His mother, Conchita "Chita" La'O was one of the daughters of the wealthy Chinese-Filipino La'O family of Manila, whose other daughter married into the city's old Manotoc clan (making her an aunt of Tommy Manotoc, a former basketball coach, golfer and former husband of Imee Marcos, the eldest daughter of President Ferdinand Marcos).

López has four children. His daughter is married, and now residing in London. The eldest son, Eugenio Manuel López IV is also married, residing in California. The two younger children, Santiago and Andres, live with López in Manila.

ABS-CBN has enjoyed network supremacy since its founding in 1953, apart from the years 1972 to 1986, when the company and all its affiliates were wrested from the Lopezes by the Marcos government. During this period and following his education, Gabby was employed at the now defunct Crocker National Bank, where he served as Assistant Vice President in the bank's back-office processing area. He had an undistinguished banking career in the United States while waiting for work in his family's media and utility interests in the Philippines.

When control of the company was restored by the Aquino administration in 1986, Gabby López was given a job by his father and started with ABS-CBN as Director of Finance. He was appointed General Manager a year later and the network regained its supremacy shortly after.

The leadership of Gabby López saw the steady growth of ABS-CBN’s staple businesses, while he aggressively pursued the company’s diversification into various successful ventures. These include interactive media, sound recording, post-production, international cable and satellite distribution, sports programming and licensing and merchandising.

A visionary, he created the López Communications Group (CommGroup) in 1997. CommGroup is the management committee that oversees the development and implementation of convergence strategies for ABS-CBN, BayanTel, SkyCable, and the López Group's investments in telecommunications and cable telephony and data warehousing across the three companies. He is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CommGroup.

López holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bowdoin College (1970-1974) and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School (1978-1980). He is a member of the prominent López family of Iloilo; his father, the late Eugenio "Geny" Lopez, Jr., is known as one of the founding fathers of Philippine television.

In 2012, he retired as CEO of ABS-CBN and was succeeded by the ABS-CBN president Charo Santos-Concio while remaining as chairman of its board of directors.

Recognitions

• 2014 Tanglaw ng Araw Award, 9th Araw Values Awards
• 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, 22nd Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Golden Dove Awards

References

1. Victoria, Eliza (June 24, 2011). "Sy leads 11 PH billionaires on Forbes list". Philippine Daily Inquirer.

External links

• ABS-CBN official website
• Lopez Holdings Corporation official website
• Interview with Gabby Lopez from Channel NewsAsia
• The Lopez Heritage
• Lopez Link, the official monthly publication of the Lopez Group