AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE Inquirer president/CEO Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez is given the CEO Excel Award for encouraging the Inquirer Group of companies to embrace the future of new media and reintroducing the brand to the young and millennials. —ARNOLD ALMACEN
She rallied the entire Inquirer organization in a journey of innovation with a disruptive move not just to redesign but also to rethink the role of one of the Philippines’ most influential media organizations, the Inquirer Group of Companies.
For this, Philippine Daily Inquirer president/CEO Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez was named one of the recipients of the CEO (Communication Excellence in Organization) Excel Award by the local chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), a global organization of public relations and communications professionals.
In particular, the IABC honored the Inquirer chief for being the moving force behind the ongoing transformation of the country’s No. 1 newspaper into a multiplatform media organization that delivers content to its stakeholders through digital channels like mobile phones, tablets, desktops, smart watches, as well as the traditional printed product.
“With such heavy pressure on the world stage, [Romualdez] encouraged the organization to embrace the future of new media and reintroduce the brand to the young and millennial segments, which have been increasingly moving to digital news sources,” IABC said in the citation to her award.
Romualdez received the award—along with 13 other awardees from government, business and academe—during ceremonies on Monday evening at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.
Ability to lead
According to IABC officials, the awardees were chosen mainly for their ability to lead their organizations through challenging phases of change both within and in their external environments.
“Communication is vital through this transition and the most effective leaders understand this,” said the IABC Philippines chair, Kane Errol Choa.
“The CEO Excel Awards honors and showcases these visionaries who maximize communications to overcome challenges, embrace innovation and disruption, and ultimately steer their organizations into new territories that present new growth opportunities for corporate and social progress,” Choa added.
In Romualdez’s case, she started a visual “redesign only” approach for the Inquirer that progressed top-down to bigger projects, overarching programs and the centralization of core functions of the business.
“In a radical departure from 30 years of traditional media practice, her leadership brought forth a disruption that was keenly watched by competition,” the IABC said.
“She sought to disrupt themselves rather than be left behind in the wave of the multiplatform, multiscreen world that we now live in.”
Other awardees
Other awardees were ePLDT president/CEO Ernesto Alberto; Naga City Mayor John Bongat; ALC Group of Companies president/CEO Edgard Cabangon-Chua; RGMA Network Inc. president Miguel Enriquez; Lifeline Ambulance Rescue Inc. managing director Michael Deakin; Hamlin-Iturralde Corp. president Maria Montserrat Hamlin; Dentsu-Jayme Syfu Inc. chief creative officer/CEO Merlee Cruz-Jayme; Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales; Resorts World Manila chief operating officer Stephen Reilly.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno; The Philippine Star senior vice president for sales and marketing Lucien Dy Tioco; Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. president/director Furqan Ahmed Syed; and Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin S.J.