The board of directors of PLDT confirmed in a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 6, the appointment of business journalist Cathy Yang as group head of corporate communications.
Ramon Isberto, who served as public affairs head, is retiring after serving PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications for 25 years.
Yang, who served most recently as anchor and managing editor of the ABS-CBN News Channel, will serve as communication strategist and advisor of PLDT’s top management team.
She will also oversee the communications needs of the broader MVP Group of Companies, of which PLDT is part. She takes on the rank of first vice president and will be part of PLDT’s top management team.
“We welcome Cathy into the senior management ranks of PLDT and Smart. Cathy is an excellent communicator and a journalist of unquestioned integrity. Her extensive experience as a financial and media person, here and abroad, will add a new dimension to our communication strategy in articulating and presenting who we are and how we perform. She will bring our era of communication into the digital space. Again, a warm welcome to Cathy,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT chairman, president and CEO.
“It’s a privilege to have a reputable, experienced and globally-acclaimed executive as part of our team,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, executive vice president & chief revenue officer of PLDT and president & CEO of Smart Communications.
“I am tremendously privileged to be part of the Philippines’ biggest telco firm PLDT, helping consumers and businesses thrive during the Covid-19 pandemic, streaming content and delivering products and services through digital connectivity,” said Yang. “We have yet to witness the power of digital connectivity on e-learning, as PLDT plays a key role in transformational education with schools resuming under the new normal. I look forward to working with the PLDT board, our shareholders and stakeholders, in ensuring we stand front and center as a key enabler in the economy’s recovery.”
Yang has an extensive broadcast career spanning 28 years, during which she has garnered global recognition for her work as a financial journalist. She covered the world’s biggest financial stories from Tokyo to Hong Kong for 15 years before returning to ABS-CBN Corporation in August 2015.
Before her PLDT appointment, Yang was most recently anchor-managing editor of the ABS-CBN News Channel. As one of the network’s icons, she hosted “Market Edge” and “Business Nightly”, focusing on financial news and economic stories. She was also host and executive producer of “The Boss”.
On January 10, 2020, Yang brought the Philippines its first-ever recognition at the 24th Asian TV Awards as “Best News Presenter or Anchor”. A month before that, she was recognized as “Best News or Current Affairs Presenter” at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in Singapore, making her the first Filipino to clinch the title.
Yang was previously Hong Kong correspondent for the global English channel of China’s state television CCTV, now CGTN. Previous to that, she was reporter-presenter for Reuters TV Asia-Pacific for three years, also in Hong Kong. She anchored the flagship business programs of Bloomberg Television Asia-Pacific for nearly 10 years, in Tokyo for four years and then in Hong Kong for the next five years.
Yang was a Reuters Foundation journalism fellow at Oxford University in England, where her 300-paged thesis on the merger of traditional and new media received distinction in 2000. She graduated with AB Communication Arts Degree from De La Salle University. She received a scholarship to attend the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
