Board of Directors

Angelica H. Lavares is a teaching fellow at the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD). She also currently serves as an independent director of Metrobank Card Corporation and Inter-Asia Development Bank.

Atty. Lavares brings with her an extensive experience in general management and legal expertise in banking and finance, real estate, manufacturing, acquisitions, international contract negotiations. She is also an expert in negotiations with various government regulatory agencies and conducts workshops for ICD on corporate governance and anti-money laundering. 

Atty. Lavares obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from St. Theresa's College in 1973. She completed her Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines (1st honorable mention) in 1981 and was admitted to the Philippine Bar in the same year.

Ms. Imelda “Ida” Tiongson is the Vice Chairperson, Trustee, and Teaching Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), and she serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Opal Portfolio Investments (SPV-AMC), Inc. (Opal). She currently serves as an Independent Director for several publicly listed companies. Additionally, she is a Trustee of Fintech Alliance.Ph and WomenbizPH, and the Chair of the Governance Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines.

Ms. Tiongson is also a Senior Lecturer at the ICD and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, and has lectured at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank.

She has extensive experience in business and risk management, having worked as a traditional banker for over 22 years. She held senior executive positions with National Australia Bank and Philippine National Bank before assuming leadership of Opal in 2007. Ms. Tiongson was also involved in drafting key business legislation, including the Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act of 2010 and the Revised Corporation Code. Moreover, she served as a committee member of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Open Finance Oversight Committee, which completed the Open Finance Governance Framework in 2024.

Ms. Tiongson completed her Bachelor of Business in Accountancy from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. She achieved a perfect score in the Accounting for Bankers exam at NAB and has taken masterclasses in Remedial Management at AIM, Blockchain and Digitalization by Terrapinn, Audit and Risk by IFC World Bank, the Kaplan Norton Balanced Scorecard, AGI–Alibaba Netpreneurship, and Data Science for Executives at AIM.

Sanjay Chakrabarty is Pru Life UK’s President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Mr. Chakrabarty has deep knowledge of the banking and insurance sectors, having worked across multiple Asian markets for the past 26 years.

He has been with Prudential since 2014 and has worked as the CEO of Prudential Cambodia and Prudential’s Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar Hub. In these roles, he has successfully led a cross-markets team, implementing several strategic initiatives with material impact in all three markets.

Driving innovation and growth, Mr. Chakrabarty reinstated Prudential’s Cambodia business to #1 position in the market. He is deeply committed to driving a customer-centric approach, and to creating a culture of excellence that attracts and retains the best talent.

He started his career with Citibank, India, in 1997. He has also worked for Citibank in Japan and Korea between 2004-2014, heading several functions spanning risk and business. At Prudential, he has served as CEO of Prudential Vietnam Finance Company and as Chief Commercial Officer at Prudential Vietnam. Before moving to Cambodia with Prudential in 2020, he also spent time as Deputy CEO and Head of Consumer Banking at Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank in Vietnam.

Mr. Chakrabarty holds a Masters degree in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute and enjoys reading history in his free time.

Francis Ortega is currently Pru Life UK’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and a member of its Board of Directors. He joined the company as Head of Pricing and Product Development in 2007 and led the development of its long line of innovative and profitable products. He has also helped manage the agency compensation structure and set up the distribution agreement for several bank partners. In 2011, he ascended to the role of Chief Actuary and oversaw all areas of the actuarial function which covers financial reporting, pricing, research, and risk management. He was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in 2019 leading both the Actuarial and Finance operations.

Mr. Ortega is a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of the Philippines and the Life Management Institute. His more than 25 years of experience in the life insurance industry began with a large multinational life insurance company where he gained experience in various actuarial roles prior to joining Pru Life UK. He graduated Cum Laude from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, major in Actuarial Science, and has been awarded as one of the 2015 TOTAL (The Outstanding Thomasian Alumni) awardees.

Wilson is currently a Group Director of the Strategic Business Group of Prudential Holdings, Ltd. He is currently a member of the Board of Prudential Cambodia Life Assurance and Prudential Life Assurance Laos. Wilson also previously held several senior positions in Prudential’s Group Office as well as in different Prudential local business units in Asia, including Acting CEO for Prudential’s businesses in Laos and Myanmar. He was Regional Development Director in AXA Asia, and was Senior Actuarial Consultant in Mercer Human Resource Consulting Limited. He also previously worked as a Pharmacist in Australia.

Wilson completed his Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies) from Macquarie University in Sydney as well as Bachelor of Pharmacy in the University of Sydney.

Sanchit Maini is the Group Chief Financial and Sustainability Risk Officer of Prudential plc. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of financial risk including market, credit, investment, product and insurance risks as well as sustainability risks covering ESG and climate change. Sanchit is also the Risk Business Partner for the Strategic Business Group covering Prudential markets in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar hub, India and Africa. He joined Prudential in 2016.

Prior to joining Prudential, he was Asia Head of Actuarial and Products at Aviva and has served as Chief Actuary and CRO at Max Life Insurance, India. His work experience spans various markets across Asia, the UK, US and France.

Sanchit is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, India and Singapore (FIAA, FIAI, FSAS) and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA). He holds the Qualified Risk Director designation from the DCRO Institute and an alum of Harvard Business School having completed its Advanced Management Program.

Ms. Marife B. Zamora is a Board Director of PLDT, Inc; Chairman of the Board of Willis Towers Watson Insurance Brokers, Inc.; President of Arzam Logistics Inc.; Board Member of Imperial Homes Corp.; member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Institute of Management, and Board Member of ABS-CBN Foundation. She is the co-founder of the Filipina CEO Circle and the President of the University of the Philippines Sigma Delta Phi Alumnae Association.

She was Chairman of Convergys Philippines; Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa for Convergys Corporation and served as the first country manager of Convergys Philippines, setting up its first contact center in 2003 and leading its growth as the country’s largest private employer. Prior to this, Ms. Zamora served as Managing Director of Headstrong Phils., a digital technology consultancy and outsourcer. She was with IBM Philippines where she held a number of sales, marketing, and management positions during her 18-year tenure with the company.

Ms. Zamora studied at the College of the Holy Spirit, University of the Philippines and the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the 3rd woman President and the 68th President of the Management Association of the Philippines. She was President of the Philippine Software Association; Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and Board Member of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines. Honors conferred on Ms. Zamora include the Asia CEO Awards 2011 Global Filipino Executive of the Year, the ‘Go Negosyo’ Woman STARpreneuer Award 2012, the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the World 2013, and UP Sigma Delta Phi Mariang Maya Award 2018.

Ms. Teh Opinion is the President and CEO of BNEXT, Inc., a value consulting company focused on helping companies achieve and sustain their digital transformation, and is a Board Member of Acquisition Apps, Inc. Previously, she was the Group Chief Information Officer of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. and the Senior Vice President for IT of SM Investments, Corp.

Ms. Opinion has more than thirty years of experience in Digital Transformation and Technology Innovation, encompassing Enterprise Applications, Shared Service Operations, Hybrid Infrastructure and Platforms, Cyber Security, Business Continuity, and Governance, providing enterprises with valuable solutions that provide fast and tangible results balanced with change and risk management necessary for today’s digital economy.

Ms. Opinion has a Post Graduate degree with a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of the Philippines and has completed executive courses on Strategic Uses of Information Technology at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Palo Alto, CA and Leading Digital Business Transformation at the Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Herminio ("Third") Bagro III is an experienced public sector manager and legal counsel to Senators and Cabinet Secretaries across four administrations. He is currently the Country Representative for the Philippines at the US-ASEAN Business Council, partner at FLO Attorneys-at-Law, and is a co-founder of Twala, a blockchain-secured Filipino digital identity and solutions start-up.

Atty. Bagro brings with him his built expertise in administrative law, legislation and policy, regulatory compliance, and related fields as a senior bureaucrat in the executive and legislative branches of government.

Atty. Bagro is also a lecturer on constitutional law at the University of the Philippines, where he graduated with degrees in Philosophy and Law. He also has a Master of Arts Degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School in Syracuse University, New York as a Fulbright scholar.

Prior to joining Pru Life UK, Atty. Kat de Castro was the Head of Legal and Compliance of BDO Life.  Both companies are leading in the field of insurance. Throughout her career spanning a period of more than a decade, Atty. Kat de Castro has specialized in Regulatory Compliance, Corporate Governance, Data Privacy, AML, Insurance and Corporate Laws.

Atty. Kat de Castro is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in 2006

Donna Mendoza has been with Pru Life UK since 2014, having joined as Assistant Legal Manager in August 2014. She is currently the Corporate Secretary and AVP for Legal and Corporation Governance. Prior to joining Pru Life UK, she was an associate at the Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos Law Offices. Donna studied Law at the University of the Philippines and Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Mabelle Nebres joined Pru Life UK in 2019. Prior to that, she was an associate at the Tan Venturanza Valdez Law Offices and Paner Hosaka & Ypil Attorneys-at-Law, as well as a legal officer at the Government Service Insurance System. Mabelle graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Law, and completed her undergraduate studies in Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University.