Publicly-listed Vivant Corp. on Friday announced key changes in leadership with the retirement of chief executive Ramontito Garcia, who will turn 65 in February.
The leadership changes are due to take place on Feb. 7, the company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday.
It said with Garcia’s retirement, Arlo Sarmiento, the incumbent president, will assume the role of CEO while Emil Garcia, senior vice president for power, will take over as president of Vivant.
“My retirement offers the next generation the opportunity to take the helm, to bring new ideas and to implement new styles of leadership while maintaining the same core values that have brought Vivant to where it is now,” said Garcia, who will continue to sit in the board as chairman.
Garcia said Vivant, a holdings company with investments in energy and infrastructure, made it to Forbes Asia’s 200 Best Under A Billion list in 2020, an achievement that became possible with the hard work of everyone in the company.
“I’m proud of being part of the team that made this small holding company of five employees to a conglomerate of several companies with interests in different industries,” he said.
Sarmiento said he is confident that he will be able to steer Vivant towards achieving its mission of bringing excellence to industries that improve everyday living despite the challenging business landscape due to COVID-19 and super typhoon Odette.
“We’ve remained on track amid COVID and even took home some wins. We experienced setbacks due to Odette, but we saw how everyone in the group helped each other during the aftermath of the super typhoon. I am certain we would be able to get back on our feet and gain new ground with the same can-do spirit, guided by the same core values that have been instrumental in Vivant’s growth through the years,” Sarmiento said.
Vivant, incorporated on May 28, 1990, has interests in various companies engaged in electric power generation (renewable and non-renewable energy), electric power distribution and retail electricity supply business.
It is majority-owned by the Garcia-Escaño family of Cebu.