Zobel brothers aren’t retiring (yet)

The brothers, Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel de Ayala look not a day older than when I first saw them. I don’t know when that was exactly, but I’m sure it was a long time ago because their father Don Jaime was in that event.

It was an annual stockholders meeting and I still remember it because there were so many concerns from quirky shareholders - from the mundane, to the hilarious, to the important ones. Don Jaime patiently addressed them all.

I think I was still an intern or trainee at the time.

Don Jaime retired a long time ago and now, many years later, the brothers are nearing retirement age, too. (As for me, I’m no longer a trainee. In fact, I’ve had quite a number of trainees already who all called me maam. Ouch!)

How fast time flies, indeed. Jaime Augusto or JAZA, as he is known in the business community, will turn 60 next year while Fernando will turn 60 in 2020.

Lately, the business grapevine has been abuzz with talk that JAZA, chairman and CEO of Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate, would be retiring next year.

Fernando, the president and COO, would take over and then retire a year after, so goes the buzz in the rumor mill.

The rumors aren’t surprising. After all, their father before them retired at the age of 60 (if my math is correct) and passed the baton to JAZA.

The buzz has not subsided, so I thought I’d hear it straight from the brothers.

Well, JAZA said it’s not happening just yet.

“Neither Fernando, nor I have any plans of changing our leadership or governance set up at this time, nor in the next few years,” JAZA told me.

“Rest assured,” he added, “that when the time comes for changes, we will announce it well in advance.”

So there you have it — JAZA’s very JAZA reply, short and sweet.

Fernando, this year’s Management Man of the Year, also doused cold water on the rumors. He said that he and JAZA would still be around for quite a number of years.

Ayala shareholders should find comfort in these words, at least for now.

In any case, I believe the brothers have already cemented the conglomerate’s solid foundation by putting in place a team of the best professionals — some of whom are so good that I suspect they are actually nerds in designer suits.

As Fernando shared with me when I interviewed him about his award, he and JAZA have empowered their chief executives to manage the different businesses on a day to day basis with very little interference.

“We take a meritocratic approach to management and let leadership flourish from within. This kind of environment has helped us attract the best professional managers and leaders. Decision-making is not confined to family members, but is spread and vetted with a broad management team. We are, of course, very involved in the broader governance of the companies and in major strategic, financial, and management recruitment decisions,” Fernando said.

During Fernando’s awarding ceremony last week, Don Jaime made a rare public appearance and led the Ayala family at the event.

Sitting comfortably beside his sons, Don Jaime — dapper in a dark suit and royal blue tie — was a picture of pride and honor, witnessing his second son receive the accolade, which was a testament to Fernando’s leadership as president and COO of Ayala. The award is also a testament to the successful teamwork of the Zobel brothers in running the company which, in turn, is perhaps a testament to the management skills that Don Jaime has bequeathed to them.

For sure, whoever will succeed them will have a difficult task ahead. It’s no joke running a $3.9 billion conglomerate. Such transition will also come at a time when Ayala is embracing new ways of doing business to stay at par with global trends. He or she will have very big shoes to fill.

And let’s not forget — the brothers have the cutest smiles too, so their successors will also have to try to match that.

The next generation

While there are younger generations of the Ayala clan already in the company, I can’t imagine any of them — at least for now — taking over the helm of such a mammoth conglomerate.

But veteran Ayala executives said that JAZA was only in his early 30s when he succeeded his father as president and CEO.

Non-family members as successors?

Or maybe, the successor doesn’t have to be a member of the family. Other conglomerates have done that. In fact, in the grapevine buzz, the names of some non-family Ayala executives — from the nerdy ones, to the multitasker, to the unorthodox with the sartorial swagger, and to the one whom I still owe a drink of Vodka — are already floating as possible successors.

Destiny will determine who the successor will be and only time will tell if the anointed one will actually succeed or not. For sure, it will take so much more than having a boy-next-door smile like the brothers’ but hey, that’s a start.

Iris Gonzales’ e-mail address is [email protected].