Benedict Hernandez, a stalwart of the local BPO industry who is currently the president of Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), is leaving his post as head of eTelecare’s local operations to take up a new job at a rival company.

Arizona-based eTelecare, one of the pioneering BPO firms in the country, confirmed the departure of Hernandez in a press statement released to media dated June 16, 2009. It also announced the appointment of Gilbert Santa Maria as the new senior vice president for Philippines operations, with responsibility for eTelecare’s 10,000 employees and seven sites.

Hernandez said in a phone interview that his employment at eTelecare will end in July. Though he refused to identify his next employer, reliable sources from the industry say the executive will be transferring to Accenture Philippines.

In the interview, Hernandez said his new BPO firm is focused on non-voice services – a description that fits Accenture. He also did not reveal the exact title he’ll be assuming at Accenture Philippines, a blue-chip BPO company, but according to industry sources, he will assume a senior executive position at the company.

“My role with my new employer will concern mainly with non-voice services. This will help in my education in the BPO business since I’ve already handled voice services at eTelecare,” said Hernandez.

As someone who witnessed the explosive growth of call centers since the early part of the current decade, the executive said the non-voice business offers a huge promise for the country’s BPO industry.

Hernandez did not categorically say if he voluntary resigned or if he was actively courted by Accenture. It so happened, he said, that Accenture was looking for someone to fill a new post for its non-voice business.

In the eTelecare statement, the company simply said Santa Maria will replace Hernandez, whom it cited for spending nine “exemplary” years with the company.

Before his stint at eTelecare, Hernandez was vice president for customer care at Nextel Communications Philippines and customer care manager at Smart Communications. He was also a psychology instructor at the University of the Philippines.

Santa Maria, meanwhile, joined eTelecare in 2004 as vice president in charge of the company’s technical support business unit. While leading this unit, he worked with the eTelecare’s teams in the Philippines and the US to grow programs with several multinational clients by almost four times, the company said.

Since 2007, Santa Maria spearheaded the acquisitions of the company’s AOL Clark and South Africa operations, and the start-up of its Nicaragua location, in his capacity as senior vice president for corporate development.

Prior to eTelecare, Santa Maria worked as general manager of Pepsi in Manila, chief operating officer of a technology company in Singapore that was acquired by eBay, management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in New York, and private equity professional at an Asian affiliate of New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

He holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Philippines.