The board of Philab Holdings Corp. announced Tuesday former chairman and chief executive Tom Navasero will reprise his same role in the company following the resignation of incumbent president and CEO Darlene Berberabe. The board said Navasero would again take on his role as chairman of the company.
Berberabe has stepped down effective October 9 through a mutual agreement with the board. Philab cited that she was hired to run the DNA business on condition that the funds from the follow-on offering would have come into the company. Philab, however, deferred the offering to give new underwriter China Bank Capital Corp. ample time for due diligence.
“We have been fortunate to have Lelen’s leadership and mentorship over the past challenging months. On behalf of the entire company, I would like to thank Lelen for her contributions in Philab. We will all miss her passion, leadership and integrity,” said Navasero.
Navasero was the chairman until he stepped down at the helm of the company in June, citing health reasons. The board also announced that he is now in good condition to lead the company.
”I am very excited to rejoin the operating team of the company, and I look forward in executing new business strategies that we have in store,” Navasero said. “With decades of experience in the industry as our backbone, I believe that we are ready to tackle new challenges ahead of us, and the best is only yet to come.”
Philab has been present in the life sciences and healthcare industry since his father, Hector Navasero, established Philab Industries Inc. in 1958. Philab supplies life science equipment, designs and builds laboratories, distributes in-vitro diagnostics tools and now invests on new business ventures focused on genomics.
Philab is the country’s first medical holding company focused on investing in health technologies to provide precision medicine using big data and enabling solutions for providing universal healthcare to the Filipinos.
Its subsidiaries include Labit Pte Ltd., a company empowering patients to self testing diagnostics; Medx Pte Ltd., a disruptive telemedicine company; and IntelliGene, a genetics company for consumers.