Lorenzana placed on the helm of Mediaquest

Noel Lorenzana, currently head for individual business at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, was appointed president and CEO of media conglomerate Mediaquest Holdings Inc.Lorenzana (pictured) will be replacing Ray Espinosa who was promoted as the associate director of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Investment Ltd (FPI). Espinosa will still remain as a director in the company.The announcement was made Tuesday by Manuel Pangilinan, the managing director of FPI and chairman of both PLDT and Mediaquest.A unit of the PLDT Retirement Fund, Mediaquest serves as the investment vehicle of media assets owned by Pangilinan. The company manages TV networks TV5 and the National Broadcasting Corporation, radio network GV Broadcasting Systems and digital cable company Cignal TV."Noel faces a tough job as he takes on the challenge of turning around TV5, while maintaining the growth momentum at Cignal TV towards leadership in the Pay-TV industry," Pangilinan said.Pulling TV5 out from the red could be especially taxing for Noel. Profits have been out of reach for the network for years - in December, the network reported a whooping P2.83 billion loss for the first half of 2012.Aside from TV and radio, Mediaquest also owns 30% of Businessworld and 12% of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It also expressed interest to acquire the Philippine Star last January. In addition, it owns 30% of Unitel Group which manages two production houses.Pangilian remains confident that Noel will deliver, saying his background in the telco space and in fast moving consumer goods "will be of immense advantage"Noel brings to the table more than a decade of experience with Unilever, where he last served as the multinational firm's chairman and managing director for Malaysia and Singapore.His academic training is also as diverse as his role. After earning a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering at the University of the Philippines, he took up advanced studies in finance at the Ashbridge Business School. He also enrolled in executive education programs of the Kellogg School of Management in Northwestern University  and of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.