In the Philippines, where women are still a small minority in the rooms that make the largest corporate decisions, the Filipina CEO Circle has opened the third cohort of its leadership program, CEO.Next 2026, bringing in 22 senior women from banking, real estate, technology, professional services, and outsourcing. The effort rests on a quiet recognition that competence alone has rarely been enough to carry women into the top chair, and that readiness for that final step must be cultivated deliberately, not left to chance. As firms feel mounting pressure to diversify their boardrooms, the progr
Filipina CEO Circle Opens Third Cohort to Build a Pipeline of Female C-Suite Leaders
Women leaders shouldn't have to find their way to the top alone.
Mark
So what actually happened on Oct. 21?
Mimi
The Filipina CEO Circle opened its third CEO.Next cohort, with 22 senior women executives from banking, real estate, tech, professional services, and BPO.
Mark
What's new this year?
Mimi
Two things: third-party analytics through the Zenger Folkman 360-degree assessment, and direct mentorship from sitting chief executives.
Luke
Worth noting the 360 tool is described by the program as a way to align self-perception with performance. We haven't seen any results from it.
Mark
Why does the assessment come first?
Mimi
It sets a baseline from board members, peers, and direct reports before the advanced coursework in strategy and change management begins.
Mark
And the mentorship?
Mimi
Each participant is paired with a female CEO to work through restructuring, expansion, and real corporate decisions. Aleli Arcilla said women shouldn't have to find their way to the top alone.
Luke
That's the organizer's framing. The report doesn't say how many earlier graduates reached C-suite roles, so we can't say yet whether the pipeline works.
Mark
So what's the measure of success?
Mimi
Appointments. Companies face pressure to diversify, but the real test is whether participants get top-tier jobs.
Luke
Agreed, and that outcome data isn't in this story.
O Pulso
- Twenty-two senior women have entered a program built to push them past functional expertise and into the demanding terrain of the C-suite.
- The new cohort pairs governance, strategic risk, and digital transformation coursework with a 360-degree assessment that confronts each executive with how others actually see her.
- Mentorship from sitting female CEOs is being woven into real decisions on restructuring and market expansion, so ambition is tested against live corporate stakes.
- Conglomerates and multinational subsidiaries face mounting pressure to diversify, and the program's graduates will soon be measured by whether they actually land top appointments.
In the Philippines, where women are still a small minority in the rooms that make the largest corporate decisions, the Filipina CEO Circle has opened the third cohort of its leadership program, CEO.Next 2026, bringing in 22 senior women from banking, real estate, technology, professional services, and outsourcing. The effort rests on a quiet recognition that competence alone has rarely been enough to carry women into the top chair, and that readiness for that final step must be cultivated deliberately, not left to chance. As firms feel mounting pressure to diversify their boardrooms, the program asks whether a structured path, with honest feedback and direct access to sitting chief executives, can turn accumulated talent into the appointments that will determine whether that pressure ever becomes change.
On October 21, the Filipina CEO Circle opened its third leadership cohort, welcoming 22 senior women executives into a program called CEO.Next 2026. The participants come from banking, real estate, technology, professional services, and business process outsourcing, and they arrive with proven functional skill. What the program asks of them is different: readiness for the top job itself, which the organization sees as distinct from the management expertise that got them their current roles.
This year the curriculum added two elements aimed at persistent gaps in women's representation at the top. The first is the Zenger Folkman 360-degree assessment, which gathers structured feedback from board members, peers, and direct reports, so each executive can compare her self-image with how she is actually perceived before advanced work in enterprise strategy begins. The second is direct mentorship: each participant is paired with a female chief executive and works alongside her on real decisions about financial restructuring and market expansion.
Aleli Arcilla, the FCC project lead, put the purpose plainly: women leaders should not have to find their way to the top alone. In her view, the mentees bring ambition and talent, and the circle of CEOs supplies lessons, candor, and the network that turns potential into leadership.
The timing reflects growing pressure on Philippine conglomerates and multinational subsidiaries to diversify their boardrooms and executive suites. The program is built to feed a direct pipeline into those appointments. Whether its graduates actually reach them will show whether the effort can move boardroom diversity in any measurable way.
On Oct. 21, the Filipina CEO Circle opened the third cohort of its leadership program, bringing in 22 senior women executives. The program, called CEO.Next 2026, is built to speed up their move into C-suite roles at companies across the Philippines.
The participants come from banking, real estate, technology, professional services, and business process outsourcing. The coursework centers on enterprise-wide governance, strategic risk, and digital transformation. The program is aimed at readiness for the top job, which the organization distinguishes from the functional management expertise that typically earns executives their current positions.
This year the organization expanded its competency framework in two ways. It added third-party performance analytics, and it added direct mentorship from sitting chief executives. Both changes are meant to address persistent gaps in women's representation at the top tier of corporate leadership.
The analytics piece is the Zenger Folkman 360-degree assessment, now central to the 2026 curriculum. The tool measures leadership effectiveness through structured feedback from board members, peers, and direct reports. According to the program, this quantitative baseline is meant to bring each executive's view of herself into line with how she actually performs, and it is set before candidates take advanced coursework in enterprise strategy and change management.
Tully Moss led the first executive coaching module. A leadership consultant, Moss is a Wharton graduate and a former co-author of Harvard Business School cases, and has trained more than 1,000 Asian business leaders. He laid out frameworks on organizational resilience, digital disruption, and stakeholder management.
The core curriculum rests on seven competencies: strategic vision, risk calibration, enterprise communication, organizational change, talent development, integrity, and operational execution. Each participant will also be paired with a female chief executive and work alongside her on real-world corporate decision-making, financial restructuring, and market expansion strategies.
Aleli Arcilla, the FCC project lead for the program, framed the mentorship as the point of the effort. "CEO.Next exists because women leaders shouldn't have to find their way to the top alone," she said. In her words, the mentees bring ambition and talent, while the circle of CEOs brings lessons, honesty, and a network that turn potential into leadership.
The launch event featured Carol Dominguez, president and chief executive officer of John Clements Consultants, along with FCC leaders Grace Alcid and FCC President May Siy. The timing reflects a wider context: Philippine conglomerates and multinational subsidiaries are under growing pressure to diversify their boardrooms and executive suites.
The Filipina CEO Circle set up the program to create a direct talent pipeline into top corporate appointments in the region. What to watch is whether graduates actually land those appointments, since that will show whether the program shifts boardroom diversity in a measurable way.
Citações Notáveis
CEO.Next exists because women leaders shouldn't have to find their way to the top alone.— Aleli Arcilla, FCC project lead for CEO.Next
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