Danel Aboitiz steers family’s power business

Danel C. Aboitiz officially starts his journey as president and chief executive officer at the Aboitiz Power Corp. today — a move aligned with the group’s target of becoming the country’s first “techglomerate.” 

Aboitiz inherits the company in great shape from Emmanuel V. Rubio who now moved to Meralco PowerGen Corp.

At 42, Aboitiz, used to sit as the company’s director and chief commercial and stakeholder engagement officer.

He also holds concurrent directorships within the Aboitiz Group.

Additionally, he serves as a director of the Philippine Electricity Market Corp., vice chairperson of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association, and vice chair of the Energy Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines.

Milestones listed

Throughout his career, Aboitiz has held various positions within the Aboitiz Group and has been actively involved in AboitizPower’s numerous Business Units.

From 2016 to 2018, Aboitiz served as president and chief operating officer of AboitizPower’s Coal and Oil Business Units. Before that, he held key positions in AboitizPower’s renewable power generation companies, including the SN AboitizPower Group and AP Renewables Inc., from 2010 to 2016.

In October 2023, Aboitiz was appointed as the Private Sector Representative for Mindanao for the Inter-Agency Investment Promotion Coordination Committee of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Aboitiz earned his Master’s degree in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Edinburgh, graduating with honors.

Meanwhile, Rubio was the first top executive within the Aboitiz Group sans the Aboitiz surname.

Under his leadership, AboitizPower took on the calibrated move to help the country’s energy transition, which he said requires all parts of the power industry — generation, transmission, and distribution — to work, develop and grow together.

AboitizPower has grown beyond its core businesses of generation, distribution, and retail electricity services and soughtopportunities to harness the potential of new trends, innovations and technologies. 

To date, AboitizPower has close to 1,000 megawatts of disclosed projects from various indigenous energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal, en route to reaching at least 4,600 MW of renewable energy or 50 percent of its generation portfolio by the next decade.