Monday, October 16, 2006 SWU installs 9th president
SOUTHWESTERN University will install its 9th president, Lassi Matti Aznar Holopainen in solemn rites on Oct. 17, 9 in the morning at the Aznar Memorial Coliseum.
The ceremony will be preceded by an ecumenical prayer. Members of the SWU Board of Directors, Executive Committee, University Council, faculty, employees and students will witness the symbolic investiture.
Officials of the Commission on Higher Education, Department of Education and government, educators and local media are also invited to witness the said affair. Around 500 graduates will receive their diplomas from the president in the graduation rites that will follow after the installation.
Holopainen will deliver his inaugural speech after his oath taking which will revolve around the new directions and programs of Southwestern University.
As the 9th President of a 60 year old academic institution, Holopainen brings with him his love for education and educating the young, a passion which he inherited from his maternal grandparents (the founders Don Matias and Dońa Anunciacion) and his mother Alma Aznar Holopainen (former dean of the College of Medical Technology). Aside from his vision for education, his wealth of experience in government and the corporate world and his education make him very qualified and worthy of the post.
He completed his degree in Management (Honors Program) at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1989. Holopainen had his internship (AIESEC Exchange Program) at Omni Investments, New York, USA. He took his Masters of Business Administration at INSEAD Fountainbleau, France, a top-tier business school of the world and spent his Summer MBA Internship with Asian Development Bank in 1995.
At an early age of 23, Holopainen invested a client portfolio of over P1 billion as trader in the Money Markets, First Pacific Capital Corporation, Philippines. He served as senior consultant of Andersen Consulting, Singapore in 1996 to 1997. At Schroders International Merchant Bankers, Ltd., Singapore/Philippines, he served as Chief Representative, Philippine Representative Office (March 1999-April 2000) and Manager-Corporate Finance, Southeast Asia M&A Team (April 1997 – April 2000).
Holopainen was SWU’s Vice President for Finance and Professor of the College of Commerce.
As Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy in 2001 to December 2003. He had the overall responsibility for investments in the Philippine Energy Sector and worked across the subsectors in power and renewable energy.
Presently, as President of the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), Holopainen is responsible for the establishment of the first Philippine Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). On Aug. 4, 2006, Holopainen in his capacity as President of PEMC was joined by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla in a Press Conference in the Rizal Hall of Malacańang to announce the reduction of electric power in Metro Manila and Luzon areas.
He is presently the Director of the Center for Environmental Awareness and Education.
Under his administration, SWU is creating new programs that suit the specific needs of students, be they towards intellectual, cultural, social or physical development. In its endeavor to enhance all aspects of the individual, the university is currently improving existing privileges as well as fast implementing new ones in order to make your education experience as favorable and holistic as possible.
