Eugenio Lopez III

Eugenio Lopez III, (born August 23, 1952) commonly known as Gabby, is the current Chairman of ABS-CBN Corporation, the largest media conglomerate in the Philippines, with investments primarily in television, radio and film production. He is also director and treasurer of Lopez Holdings Corporation (formerly Benpres Holdings Corporation), ABS-CBN's parent and the flagship company of the Lopez Group.

Biography

He became chairman and CEO of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation in 1996, when his father, the late Eugenio “Geny” Lopez, Jr., turned over the reins of the family-owned company to the younger Lopez, who had been President from 1993 to 1996. The younger Lopez, 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 Lopez was one of the daughters of the wealthy Chinese-Filipino Manila La'O family, whose other daughter married into the old Manila clan of Manotoc (making her an aunt of Tomas "Tommy" Manotoc, a former basketball player and golf aficionado, and ex-husband of Imee Marcos, daughter of Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos) while yet another daughter married Philippine senator Raul Manglapus.

Mr. Lopez has 4 children. His daughter is married, residing in London. The eldest son, Eugenio Manuel Lopez IV is also married, residing in California. The 2 younger children, Santiago and Andres live with Mr. Lopez in Manila.

ABS-CBN had enjoyed network leadership 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 Crocker National Bank, where he served as Assistant Vice President in the Bank's backoffice processing area. He had an undistinguished banking career in the U.S. 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 Lopez 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 Lopez 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 Lopez Communications Group in 1997. CommGroup is the management committee that oversees the development and implementation of convergence projects for ABS-CBN together with BayanTel and SkyCable, the Lopezes investments in telecommunications and cable telephony and data warehousing across the three companies. He is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CommGroup.

Lopez 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 innovators of Philippine television.

On 2012, he retired as CEO of ABS-CBN and was replaced by the Company's President Charo Santos-Concio while remaining as Chairman of its board of directors.

See also

• ABS-CBN Corporation

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