Her illustrious family name is second only to her true mettle, as Mariana Zobel de Ayala stands poised to lead her family’s esteemed empire to a new era
Societies sleep better when their institutions are strong and steady. One such institution, which has been proving its strength since 1834, is the Ayala Group. Its leaders have been captains of industry and partners in the country’s economy since its founding. The fact that just one family helms it with an excellent track record in business and industry has even generated an enormous amount of public trust. Though highly competent professionals have occupied top leadership positions around Ayala Group, family members through generations have taken the reins in steering the huge conglomerate.
“Several generations ago, Ayala made a deliberate decision to professionalise—many of us in the family [accept] that our one gene pool may not carry all of the experience, talents and skills needed to cover the wide range of industries we participate in,” says Mariana Zobel de Ayala, an eighth-generation Zobel and the executive director of Ayala Corporation. “In that respect, the view is, generally, ‘Let’s find the best person for the job—family or not’.”
But that doesn’t mean they don’t start the search close to home.
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“In terms of assessing our interest in and capacity to contribute to Ayala, the generation above looked for indicators of interest and commitment—how we performed in school, what internships and jobs we secured,” Mariana explains. She remembers receiving a phone call from her dad, which meant that he, her uncle and her grandfather understood she was serious about a career in business. “I was working for a bank in New York, and my dad called me to test my interest in returning to Manila. He said, ‘You know it’s an exciting time in the Philippines; don’t you want to come experience it? There’s so much to learn. In the Philippines, it’s different; consumption patterns are changing. There’s so much growth.”
Feeling that the combination of her family name and lack of experience would be a disadvantage if she went straight into the family business, Mariana first applied for and got a job with the Department of Finance as an assistant to the finance secretary. “I wanted to first try working for a non-Ayala company, to gain more experience in the Philippine context,” she relates. Following this stint, she “knocked on Ayala’s door” to look for an opportunity. For almost ten years after that, the Harvard graduate combed the complex network of her family’s corporation, taking on whatever assignment was thrown at her.
Zobel was first placed in corporate strategy, where she supported portfolio review across Ayala and helped develop a business case for the company to enter the healthcare space; it now has several clinics and hospitals. She then joined Ayala Land in project development, planning and building an office tower in Makati and two residential buildings in Quezon City. “Project development was helpful in that I learnt the core of what we do at Ayala Land,” she says, “I learnt how to develop the business models for the project and work to align construction teams with architects, marketing and operations to ensure seamless execution.” Then, she was moved to Ayala Malls, after which she went to the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) to drive marketing and digital platforms for the Consumer Bank. She was recently asked to return to Ayala Land to lead the group’s leasing and hospitality units, including Ayala Malls, Ayala Land Offices and Ayala Land Hotels & Resorts.
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