GMA-7 will enter a new era under its new CEO, Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr.
GMA Network Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Atty. Felipe L. Gozon has announced his retirement from the position during the celebration of his 84th Birthday at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.
GMA Network’s President and Chief Operating Officer Gilberto R. Duavit Jr. is set to take over and ferry the “leading” multimedia conglomerate beginning January 1, 2024.
The incoming chairman is the firstborn of the late Gilberto Duavit Sr. — one of GMA Network’s founders. He first came into the organization in 1999 and has served as the Chairman of the Network’s Executive Committee since August 2000.
In 2010, he was proclaimed as the network’s president, while doing simultaneous executive duties for GMA Network Films, GMA Holdings, Inc., Group Management and Development Inc., and Dual Management Investments Inc.
His appointment was also backed by experience in leading the Kapuso Foundation Inc., the Guronasyon Foundation Inc., and the HERO Foundation as President, Trustee, and Board Advisor, respectively.
GMA Network over the years
What people know of GMA Network today was once a vision dreamed and realized by a “triumvirate” composed of Atty. Felipe Gozon, Gilberto Duavit Sr., and Menardo Jimenez.
In 1975, they took the initiative of reviving the ailing Republic Broadcasting System Inc. and equipped it with solutions to make it financially viable through debt restructuring, equipment upgrade, and local show production.
Despite relentless efforts, GMA Network was revered by audiences only as second. But this placement changed when Mr. Felipe took charge in 2000.
Viewed with “transformational leadership,” Mr. Felipe was able to drive the network as the top broadcast network in the Philippines.
In the early years of Mr. Felipe’s chairmanship, GMA-7 consistently bagged laudable merits including Mega Manila-polled, top-rated programs in 2004 and Asian Television’s Terrestrial Channel Award in 2005.
In 2011, GMA-7 reached the top spot in the entire Philippines as it now caters to over 73 million Filipinos with its 106 TV stations and 21 radio stations nationwide.
GMA-7 reaches far and wide, as it also takes pride in connecting with millions of Filipinos in 100 countries through GMA International. But more than that, it came as the first Filipino media and broadcasting company to make an agreement with the United Nations Global Compact in an attempt to make lasting impacts for audiences and stakeholders.
Ultimately, it extends its services outside entertainment and current affairs with its socio-civic arm GMA Kapuso Foundation. Such an initiative helps impoverished Filipinos meet their needs in Health, Education, Disaster Relief, and Values Education.
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