JOSE RENE D. ALMENDRAS is the newly appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He served as the Cabinet Secretary under the Office of the President for more than three (3) years, and was tasked to effectively integrate and implement the programs of the Aquino Administration and ensure the effective coordination of policies and projects of the different departments and agencies of government.
Prior to his appointment as Cabinet Secretary, he served as the Secretary of the Department of Energy for almost three (3) years. Under his leadership, the Department of Energy was ranked as one of the Top 10 Performers in a survey among 50 government agencies on government performance, specifically in ensuring integrity in public service.
In 2011, he became the co-chair of the high-level discussion on the Long Term Strategy for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) held in Abu Dhabi. On the same year, the Philippines became a rotating member of the Executive Board of the International Energy Forum (IEF) at the 4th Asian Energy Ministerial Roundtable on “Sustainable Growth and Energy Independence” in Kuwait.
Sec. Rene has a vast experience in the private sector where he spent most of his career before he decided to serve the government, under President Aquino. Throughout this time with the private sector, he assumed significant leadership roles with some of the top corporations in the country.
Landing his first CEO position as the President of a bank at the age of 37, he has come to be known for his success in driving the value of the companies he led, and his craft in honing these companies to garner national and international recognitions and awards.
He is an acknowledged international resource person on Sustainable Development and Leadership. In 2011, he became one of the very few in the world to be acknowledged for Sustainable Leadership by the World Economic Forum.
In June 2013, Sec. Rene was given the rare privilege of addressing the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations at its headquarters in Geneva and then again in New York in December of the same year for the United Nations’ Special Meeting of the Economic and Social Council. Another one of his notable achievements as Cabinet Secretary is his crucial role as appointed by the President, in the resolution of the 2010 Manila hostage crisis which lasted seven months of negotiation between the Philippines and the Hong Kong government.
As a staunch sustainability advocate and a leader in doing business at the base of the pyramid, he believes in servant leadership and aims to lead to serve others. Sec. Rene is passionate advocate of transformation through people development and personally champions the development programs of the people in his organization.