The country chair of the largest private employer in the Philippines is the new head of the Management Association of the Philippines.
MAP, a multi-industry organization promoting management excellence for nation-building, inducted its 2017 board of governors led by Marife Zamora, chairperson of Convergys Philippines, as MAP president.
Zamora is MAP’s 68th president and the first to come from the business process outsourcing sector since the organization was established in 1950.
A multi-awarded executive, her contributions to the BPO industry included establishing the Philippine operations of Convergys Corp., a global leader in customer management.
Serving as its first country manager in 2003, Zamora was pivotal in growing Convergys to becoming the Philippines’ largest private employer, where she is currently chairperson.
In her role as MAP president, Zamora will be leading the organization towards the fulfillment of its programs and advocacies together with eight members of MAP’s board of governors, comprised of top executives from financial services, public utility, media, academe and management consultancy firms.
The induction of MAP’s 2017 board of governors, held at the Peninsula Manila on Jan. 25, was spearheaded by Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who also served as guest speaker at the event.
This was followed by Zamora’s inaugural address where she revealed MAP’s theme for this year: “Working Together to Achieve Inclusive Prosperity,” which conveys bringing about positive change and inspiring courage and optimism to overcome challenges.
The theme is operationalized as the organization strengthens its commitment to integrity; to delivering economic freedom to marginalized sectors through skills generation, education and promoting sustainable business; and to helping create a more equitable workforce and an inclusive economy.
Zamora also disclosed MAP’s five top priority programs which include traffic management advocacy, ease of doing business, entrepreneurship or enterprise development, employment generation, and women empowerment.
The first two, traffic management advocacy and ease of doing business, are crucial in creating a productive and enabling business environment.
Efforts in enterprise development and employment generation include MAP’s Educated Marginalized Entrepreneurs Resource Generation Program that assists the entrepreneurial poor on business and job generation.
MAP also aims to address women empowerment issues such as the ability to control and benefit from resources, assets, and income, as well as manage risk and improve economic well-being.
Zamora said MAP will continue to push for reforms and policies in these areas, leveraging management excellence to ensure that programs will be implemented with continued collaboration among its members, other business organizations, the government and civic groups.
Zamora concluded her inaugural address with a call for MAP members to share their talent, time and resources to help make the organization increasingly relevant by spearheading critical learning sessions to leverage industry best practices, and more networking fellowship activities this year.