by John Mark V. Tuazon
July 1, 2010

Ian Felicilda may be enjoying his place at the peak of his career, but for this 31 year-old IT professional who has just been named CIO of Atlas Fertilizer Corporation – Sojitz, retracing his roots has always been a steady measure of hard-earned success.

“[I came] from a poor family where my parents could hardly send me to school,” he proudly narrates. Poverty, for Felicilda, has always been a driving force towards achieving greater heights in his career. “My father would let us work in the farm just so we could feel how hard it is working under the sun, so that we would [study hard] and dream better lives for ourselves,” he adds.

For his age, he could very well be one of the youngest CIOs around. When he graduated with an industrial engineering (IE) degree from Cebu Institute of Technology in 2002, he was among the top students of his batch, bagging the Outstanding Graduate Award, the Leadership Award, and the DOST Regional Medal of Excellence in Science. In the same year, he was even awarded by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself as one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines.

Having a decorated resume, however, is just one of the things that propelled Felicilda towards a burgeoning career in IT. “My passion to keep on learning new things has driven me to pursue a career in IT,” he shares. With an IE degree under his belt, he started off pursuing an IE track, but eventually shifting towards innovation through IT when he was hired as a Methods Improvement Officer for Unionbank of the Philippines in 2005.

“[I consider] my previous positions—such as Industrial Engineer, Lean Champion, and Methods Improvement Officer— important because they balanced my passion for IT,” he explains. “IE and Lean highlight areas that need improvement or automation and, in many cases, IT addresses those deficiencies. Combination of these skills provides me a different way of improving business.”

Thankful of the things he learned throughout his career, Felicilda makes sure he passes them on to his staff. “I taught them the principles of IE and Lean Manufacturing System. I taught them the components of the business process that IT usually supports and appropriate quantitative and qualitative tools to support IT improvements,” he relates.

It’s not all about the technical skills however. Felicilda says CIOs should have the business acumen of a common serviceoriented company, being the ones servicing internal customers in the organization. “[An IT boss should have] excellent leadership and communication skills [as well as] a broad perspective of things; [he should] know how to sell his services to the internal customers, and be an ‘optimizer’ that will benefit company and users without sacrificing security and control,” he emphasizes.

But building a professional career, for Felicilda, isn’t just about acquiring skills and learning new things. “One must be trustworthy as well to be able to earn credibility and win the trust of your colleagues and clients,” he suggests.

Developing a character worth of admiration and praise, therefore, has become one of the cornerstones of his IT career. “I learned that my character defines my destiny because I am the most powerful person in my life; in every decision I make, [I make sure to] always have the end result in mind. In this way, I will never stray from my ideal path in my career,” he quips.

Being at the helm of his company’s IT division, it appears that Felicilda couldn’t ask for more but a stable life ahead, thankful off all he has achieved. “I want to run my own business,” he simply chides, but in the same vein he quickly adds, solidifying his conviction never to turn his back from where he came from: “[I also want to establish] a foundation for the talented, gifted but financially incapable young ones.”

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• Mariels Almeda Winhoffer: First Female President of IBM Philippines
• Jeffrey Uthoff
• Keeping IT Positive
• Harnessing Excellence

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