Cosette Vargas Canilao, the CEO and the President of Aboitiz InfraCapital, delighted the U.P. Alumni community as the guest speaker at the UPAA-Iloilo Chapter Alumni Homecoming Dinner and Wards Night 2024 last August 18, 2024 at St Ann Margaret Ballroom, Diversion 21 Hotel, Mandurriao, Iloilo City.
Canilao is an alumna of the U.P. High School in Iloilo and of the U.P. Visayas School of Developmental Management. She finished her Master of Science in Finance from UP Diliman in 2001, Executive Program, Corporate Restructuring in from Harvard Business School in 2006; Executive Education in Market Economy in 2013 from Harvard Kennedy School, and Global Leadership Executive Program from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford in 2016.
In her speech, she Canilao revisited her undergraduate experiences as an Iska, and how it has honed and aided her growth as a professional. She also emphasized that being an Iskolar ng Bayan is a responsibility, and that there’s always a need to give back to the country in form of service.
Aside from leading the private sector, Canilao also served in the executive branch of the government as the private Public-Private-Partnership Center’s Executive Director during the term of the late Benigno Aquino III, one of the highlights of her professional career. Here, she began to further appreciate the value of primary education especially the need for significant improvements in the education system and infrastructure.
Canilao is a living testament that women have the capacity to lead, even in male dominated industries such as infrastructure.
