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Lance Gokongwei | |
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![]() Gokongwei in 2022 | |
Born | Lance Yu Gokongwei November 23, 1966 Manila, Philippines |
Citizenship | Filipino |
Education | University of Pennsylvania (BS) |
Occupation | Businessman |
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Spouse | Jay Leong |
Children | 2 |
Parents |
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Lance Yu Gokongwei (born 23 November 1966) is a Filipino businessman. He is the President and CEO of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. since 2018. [1] [2] [3] Gokongwei is the only son of businessman John Gokongwei Jr. [1] He and his siblings are listed among the richest in the country. [4]
Gokongwei was born in Manila as the second of six children. His father, John Gokongwei, established JG Summit Holdings Inc., while his mother, Elizabeth, was a founding member of Robinsons Department Store. [5] He went to Xavier School until the second year of high school. He then finished his last two years of high school in Singapore. [6]
In 1988, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a double degree in Finance and Applied Science (summa cum laude). [7]
Gokongwei began his career joining the family business as a management trainee at Universal Robina Corporation (URC). [8] He sold Jack ’n Jill snacks to supermarkets, groceries, and sari-sari stores. [9]
In the late 1990s, Gokongwei became general manager of URC's branded food business, where he led the development of beverages. [7] In 2004, the company introduced C2, a ready-to-drink tea that went head-to-head with foreign cola companies that dominated the beverage sector in the Philippines. It was so successful that another production line was required to meet demand. [10]
In 2013, Gokongwei became chief executive of URC. [7] The following year, he partnered with Japan's Calbee and France's Danone for potato chips and beverages, respectively. He also acquired New Zealand-based cookie maker Griffin's Foods for 700 million New Zealand dollars ($609 million at the time), giving Universal Robina a presence in the South Pacific. The partnership with Calbee, ended five years later as Calbee suffered losses in the Philippine market. [11]
In 2021, URC bought Malaysia’s Munchy Food Industries for 1.9 billion ringgit ($454 million) to become the nation's leading biscuits manufacturer. [12]
In 1996, Gokongwei was tasked by his father to take on the challenge of building a new low-cost airline, Cebu Pacific Air. [13] In February 1998, two years after the company's inception, Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashed into a mountainside, killing all 104 people aboard. At the time, it was the nation's worst air disaster. [14]
In 2010, Cebu Pacific became the Philippines largest airline. [15]
In December 2022, Gokongwei announced his resignation as president and CEO of Cebu Pacific. [16]
Earlier in the year, Gokongwei joined five other businessmen in a consortium that proposed to revamp Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport by spending 267 billion pesos. The government rejected the bid in July. [17]
In 2018, Gokongwei was named CEO of JG Summit Holdings. [18] , a holding company which provides consumer foods, agro-industrial and commodity food products, real property development, hotels, telecommunications, petrochemicals, air transportation and power generation. [19]
Lance Gokongwei took over as president and CEO of Robinsons Land Corp. in January 2024, following the resignation of his cousin, Frederick D. Go, from both positions. [20]
Earlier, Malacañang announced Go's appointment as the head of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs. [21]
Gokongwei joined the board of SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) in May 2024. SPNEC is a subsidiary of Solar Philippines, the largest solar energy provider in the Philippines. [22]
Gokongwei has been a director of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) since 2013 when JG Summit acquired ownership in the power utility firm. [23]
Gokongwei is a member of the National Advisory Council of WWF Philippines. [24] In 2020, Gokongwei was named a member of board of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), representing the business enterprise sector. [25]
Gokongwei is the chairman of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, the largest private sector provider of STEM scholarships in the Philippines. [26] On its 30th year, the foundation's goal is to participate in the learning journey of 10,000 teachers and one million learners by 2025. [27]
Gokongwei was awarded the 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, one of Ten Outstanding Young Men in the Philippines in 2000, Finance Asia's Best CEO in 2015 and 2018, and Institutional Investors Best CEO in 2015. [3]
Gokongwei is married to Jay Leong. [28] They have a daughter and a son.
In 2016, Gokongwei wrote a book titled Lessons from Dad, John Gokongwei Jr. [29] He also contributed to an anthology titled Letters to My Children. [30]
Cebu Air, Inc., operating as Cebu Pacific, is a Philippine low-cost airline based at Pasay in Metro Manila. Founded in 1988, it is Asia's first low-cost airline and the Philippines' largest leading airline. It offers scheduled flights to both domestic and international destinations. The airline operates flights from five bases in Cebu, Clark, Davao, Iloilo, and its largest base in Manila.
San Miguel Corporation, abbreviated as SMC, is a Philippine multinational conglomerate with headquarters in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. The company is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the Philippines. Originally founded in 1890 as a brewery, San Miguel has ventured beyond its core business, with investments in various sectors such as food and drink, finance, infrastructure, oil and energy, transportation, and real estate.
The Manila Electric Company, also known as Meralco, is an electric power distribution company in the Philippines. It is Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 39 cities and 72 municipalities, including the whole of Metro Manila and the exurbs that form Mega Manila.
PLDT, Inc., formerly known as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, is a Philippine telecommunications, internet and digital service company.
Lucio Chua Tan Sr. is a Filipino business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He presides over the Filipino conglomerate company LT Group, Inc., a company with extensive business interests in sports, banking, airline, liquor, tobacco, real estate, beverages, and education. As of 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$2.6 billion.
Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is a Philippine company headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the Philippines, along with San Miguel Corporation, Monde Nissin, Mondelez Philippines and Nestlé Philippines.
John Robinson Lim Gokongwei Jr. was a Filipino banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. His conglomerate company JG Summit Holdings, Inc., had an extensive panoply of business and investment holdings across the Filipino economy, including shipping, telecommunications, retail, financial services, petrochemicals, real estate, utilities, aviation, food, beverages, and livestock farming.
Tandag Airport is an airport serving the general area of Tandag, the capital city of Surigao del Sur in the Philippines. It is one of two airports in Surigao del Sur, the other being Bislig Airport, Later that was flooded in the news. The airport is classified as a Class 2 principal airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, a body of the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the operations of not only this airport but also of all other airports in the Philippines except the major international airports.
JG Summit Holdings, Inc. (JGSHI) is one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines with business interests in air transportation, banking, food manufacturing, hotels, petrochemicals, power generation, publishing, real estate and property development, and telecommunications. Key subsidiaries include Universal Robina and Cebu Pacific. Incorporated in November 1990, JG Summit Holdings was founded by John Gokongwei Jr., one of the wealthiest individuals in Southeast Asia. In 2010, JGSHI was one of the ten most profitable companies on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Robinsons Malls is one of the largest shopping malls and retail operators in the Philippines. It was incorporated on September 9, 1997, by entrepreneur John Gokongwei Jr. to develop, conduct, operate and maintain the Robinsons commercial shopping centers and all related businesses, such as the lease of commercial spaces within the compound of shopping centers.
Ramon See Ang, also known by his initials RSA, is a Filipino businessman. He is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Top Frontier Investment Holdings, Inc., the largest shareholder of San Miguel Corporation (SMC). He is also the chairman and CEO of SMC and the chairman of Cyber Bay Corporation and Eagle Cement Corporation.
Go Hotels is a Philippine chain of budget hotels owned and operated by Robinsons Land Corporation, a subsidiary of JG Summit Holdings conglomerate of Filipino-Chinese entrepreneur John Gokongwei Jr. As of January 2021, the company has 17 hotels, all located in the Philippines.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) is a Philippine holding company based in Metro Manila, with roots from Cebu City. The conglomerate operates in six major industries: Power, Banking and Financial Services, Food, Infrastructure, and Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. In 2017, the company was ranked 1793rd on the Forbes Global 2000. In 2022, AEV ventured into transforming its organization into a "Techglomerate" - a faster, stronger, and better version of a conglomerate. A techglomerate can refer to a startup tech company that has grown into a conglomerate or a legacy conglomerate that has used technology and startup culture to radically transform the way it behaves and operates. AEV is the latter of the two.
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Bridgetowne is a real estate development spanning the border of Pasig and Quezon City in Metro Manila, the Philippines. It is a mixed township and business park situated in a former industrial area on both banks of the Marikina River near the junction of Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue and Ortigas Avenue. The 30.61-hectare (75.6-acre) masterplanned community is the first integrated township project by Robinsons Land Corporation, the real estate arm of JG Summit. It is currently anchored by four office towers in its information technology park dedicated to the business process outsourcing sector, its second in Metro Manila after Robinsons Cybergate in Mandaluyong. Once completed, the township will be a community consisting of seven office towers, a shopping mall, five-star hotel and residential condominiums, with a landmark bridge and a light art installation called The Victor as its centerpiece.
Summit Hotels and Resorts is a Filipino brand of hotels owned and operated by Robinsons Land Corporation, the real estate arm of JG Summit Holdings established by Filipino-Chinese entrepreneur John Gokongwei Jr. It began operating in 2009 with the opening of its first hotel, Summit Ridge Tagaytay in Tagaytay, Cavite. As of 2020, the company has six hotels, all located in the Philippines.
The Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) is a Philippine government advisory council that offers guidance to the President of the Philippines in supporting the achievement of the country's economic objectives. Established by President Bongbong Marcos on July 13, 2022, the council primarily aims to assist the government in various key areas. These include the implementation of a comprehensive infrastructure program, fostering job creation, digitizing processes, enhancing agricultural productivity by recalibrating micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and fostering equitable, sustainable, and inclusive business environment in the Philippines.
GoTyme Bank is a Filipino direct bank and a subsidiary of the Gokongwei Group.