Before Sabin, before Montxu, before Jon, it was Louie, and this week marks his 93rd birth anniversary. Luis “Louie” Aboitiz Jr. was President of Aboitiz & Company (ACO) from 1979 to 1990 and Chairman of Aboitiz Equity Ventures from 1991 to 2005. He is credited for transforming Aboitiz into a modern and professional organization, competitive and staying ahead of the times—in that familiar way, the Aboitiz Way.

Upon taking the helm of ACO from Eddie Aboitiz, Louie was determined to continue the Group's vigorous expansion and modernization.

As head of Cotabato Light and Davao Light, he was already equipped with the expertise developed from his mechanical engineering studies at the University of Sta. Clara and electrical engineering studies from the Cebu Institute of Technology. By 1970, Louie and his predecessor Edson Canova had raised Davao Light’s peak capacity by 18% yearly, from 10,500 kilowatt-hours to 26,500-kilowatt hours.

It seems time has proven Louie's vision for these distribution utilities because while they were far from the capital, these pioneering frontiers rightfully deserved quality service, which will eventually fuel the economic rise of both regions. Most significantly, these companies planted the seeds of Aboitiz Power Corporation.

Another area Louie focused on is taking advantage of new technology and computerization of operations. He pushed to introduce this along with process improvements in the power, banking, food, and shipping businesses. For you accounting A-People reading this, you'll be pleased to know it was Louie who introduced new accounting and billing systems to the company that led to more efficient ways of working. And with the rapid growth of Aboitiz, he recognized the need to devote more effort into revolutionizing the way the company took care of its most precious asset.

“Eddie and Louie initiated the changes required to transform. A corporate planning group was created with more demanding performance measurements in place,” said Romy Ronquillo, much-beloved Aboitiz leader who holds the distinction of having worked under all ACO CEOs. “Training programs had to be tailored to the needs of the changing times, with performance evaluation and development system promoted.”

Later in life, Louie was as authentic and articulate about the thinking behind it. The following is taken from an interview he gave for the Aboitiz 100 book:

People are the most important thing you have in an organization...You really have to get to a bonus or a salary based on how your performance would do. And performance was not only making [any] money but how you saved the company, to bring up the company from a loss position to a positive position. Probably the greatest thing I’ve done for that.

Louie Aboitiz passed away in 2020 but he left a legacy that, to no one's surprise, is thriving in the Great Transformation: adaptation to change, agility, entrepreneurship, commitment to purpose. It is here where we find our techglomerate origins.