MVP Group leaders map AI-driven growth at governance summit

By TechWatch PH Staff

Senior leaders of the MVP Group gathered at the 2025 Annual Corporate Governance Enhancement Session (ACGES) to chart how artificial intelligence can be responsibly harnessed to improve decision-making and drive growth across industries that power, connect, transport and serve Filipinos.

Held at the Meralco Theater, the session brought together directors, advisory board members, and executives from the group’s portfolio companies to explore how leadership must evolve as AI becomes a critical business tool. Group Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan emphasized that adopting AI is not about chasing trends but exercising sound judgment.

“We just can’t simply adopt a technology because it’s sexy or trendy. It’s a leadership question. At the end of the day, it’s like a pilot — the pilot is the one who manages the take-off, as well as the landing,” Pangilinan said.

The forum, themed “Decision Intelligence and SuperCreativity: Leading in the Age of AI,” featured global experts Cassie Kozyrkov, Google’s first Chief Decision Scientist and founder of Kozyr LLC, and James Taylor, a creativity and innovation authority who advises Fortune 500 leaders.

Setting the tone, PLDT Director and Chief Operating Officer Menardo G. Jimenez Jr. underscored that AI represents a fundamental shift rather than just another technology fad.

“When AI came into the picture, the first thing that came into my mind was, is this another tech fad? The answer is no. Absolutely not. AI is the real deal—not just because of how it can be applied in the corporate world, but because of how it can influence an individual’s life,” Jimenez said, noting that AI will also be among the key regional discussions as the Philippines prepares to host the ASEAN Summit next year.

In her keynote session, Kozyrkov stressed that the success of AI depends on leadership involvement and workforce readiness. “AI is a leadership game. If you don’t have skilled leadership involved, bad things happen. When you have skilled leadership, that is when you flourish,” she said. She also called on organizations to strengthen employee judgment skills as generative AI tools become more accessible, warning against what she described as “work slop”—AI-generated content that appears polished but can be misleading or incorrect unless properly checked.

Meanwhile, Taylor introduced the concept of “SuperCreativity,” which blends human creativity with AI to drive innovation. “Creativity is the engine of innovation. In the age of AI, your ability to augment human creativity with exponential technologies like AI will define success,” he said, while underscoring the need for solid AI governance frameworks to ensure transparency, fairness and accountability.

Taylor added that workplace culture is crucial for any AI strategy to succeed, identifying collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication as essential skills in the AI era. He also addressed what he termed the “competency penalty,” noting that some workers hesitate to use AI for fear of appearing less capable—an issue he said organizations must counter by highlighting role models and focusing on outcomes over perceptions.

A panel discussion moderated by Roby Alampay, head of PLDT’s Public Engagement Group and Corporate Communications, examined how AI is already reshaping key sectors including telecommunications, energy and fintech.

Blums Pineda, PLDT senior vice president and head of its Enterprise Business Group, said his newly expanded role as the group’s AI Business Lead focuses on using AI to transform operations and open new growth avenues. “In the end, it’s going to be about transformation and the leadership that it takes to aim for that,” he said.

Rocky Bacani, Meralco ICT and Transformation head and Kayana chief technology officer, highlighted that meaningful gains from AI require strong foundations — application use cases, infrastructure and governed data — which he summarized as AID. Without these, he said, AI remains experimental rather than transformational.

Angelo Madrid, president of Maya Bank, pointed to AI’s role in building customer trust and strengthening risk management in the digital banking space, particularly as financial services scale fully online.

Now in its 19th year, the Annual Corporate Governance Enhancement Session remains a flagship program of the MVP Group, serving as a platform for advancing leadership readiness and governance standards while addressing emerging forces shaping business and public service across the Philippines.