Partner’s Night and I Meet My First Billionaire

Monday after landing from Barocay, we were invited to our client’s partner’s night, where their major sponsors get together, get an update on the work that is going on, as well as wine and dine with the board of directors. The CEO of my client was also in town meeting with the President of the Philippines, and the Asian Development Bank on some initiatives ahead of the Copenhagen conference. The CEO definitely walks with a lot of clout, and you can see that he has a lot of power. Of course, it helps when he gives a speech and provides anecdotes about heads of states…

I also met the Ayala family, which is huge in the Philippines. They just donated a billion pesos to the education system the week before. Some other characters who were around: the CEO of Coca Cola in the Philippines, US ambassador Kennedy, and I met a man named Vince Perez, who was for sure the most interesting person to talk to (check out his profile and you’ll be amazed at how much he has done in his life: http://vinceperez.net/profile.htm)

It was an awesome event, but we were super tired after partying late the night before, and getting up at 5am to catch out flight back. After the event, we hung out with the younger crew of our client and talked for a few hours while some of them cleaned up. It was a lot of fun, and one of the nights I’ll remember for sure. This night was also the only time I wore a suit in the Philippines. It’s way too hot to ever wear a suit down here.