Mr Joe Ledesma | Second Vice Chairman of the Board, Former President and CEO
St Luke'S Medical Center | Philippines

JOE LEDESMA

SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO

ST. LUKE’S MEDICAL CENTER

PHILIPPINES

From April 1981 to May 2012 Joe Ledesma was a dominant figure in the transformation of

St. Luke’s Medical Center from an obsolete, dilapidated and almost bankrupt 150-bed hospital to one of the world’s best medical institutions.   Actually running and turning around the hospital first as Hospital Manager in 1981, then as Executive Director in 1986 and as President & CEO from 1996 to May 2012, Joe presided over the explosive growth of St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City to 630 beds; helped plan and establish the St. Luke’s College of Medicine in 1994; and led/supervised the planning, design, construction, equipment-acquisition and operation of the second 630-bed state-of-the-art St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City, which opened in 2010.

For many years now the undisputed leader, the most financially viable, and the most advanced and most comprehensive medical institution in the Philippines, and with both hospitals better equipped than 90% of hospitals in the United States (except for electronic medical records),

St. Luke’s feat is all the more remarkable since this was achieved with no debt or borrowings (except in 2009, to finance 30% of the cost of the new hospital; 70% of the P9.7B funding was internally-generated) since Joe joined the then ailing hospital in 1981.

Before moving to St. Luke’s, Joe worked for nine years as a medical representative for pharmaceutical companies Glaxo, Beecham and Bristol Myers, and for three years was CEO of Iloilo Mission Hospital, which Joe also turned around in one year.  He also had a brief stint as Marketing Manager of Tesco Manufacturing Corporation.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering degree at the University of San Agustin, a Certificate in Hospital Administration at the Ateneo de Manila University, and an MBA at the Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Manila).  He also completed a Management Development Program at the Asian Institute of Management.

Among his many affiliations, Joe is currently Chairman of the Board of the Philippine Foundation for Liver Diseases, President of the Makati Central Heart Foundation, Treasurer of the Philippine Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, a member of the Board of Governors of the Philippine Red Cross, and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.   He was formerly Chairman of the Philippine Ballet Theater, a Governor of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, and is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Makati Central.  A Past Master in freemasonry, Joe is a 33rd Degree (Inspector General Honorary) Scottish Rite Mason.