Alfredo Reyes (center) in photo with PWU board chairperson Dr. Helena Z. Benitez and Dean Reiner Suva (to his left) with award-winning students from the School of Fine Arts and Design.

Now at the helm of the 91 year-old The Philippine Women’s University is a fourth generation member of the illustrious Benitez clan, recognized as pillars of Philippine education.

Alfredo Jose Benitez Reyes, 48, was designated last year by the PWU board of trustees, led by former Senator and lifetime educator Dr. Helena Z Benitez, as chief executive officer and comptroller.

Reyes will be formally introduced to academic institutions and educational accrediting bodies at the CEO convocation tomorrow, Feb. 19, 2 p.m., at the Conrado Benitez Hall, Taft campus, Manila. He will also present the outline of his program that will guide and sustain PWU in the coming decade to its centenary.

“Having been granted the autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education, we are committed to continue to merit this distinction as one of the 16 higher education institutions in NCR with this status and upgrade the accreditation levels of the various course programs,” Reyes said.

A master’s degree in Business Administration holder from the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, Reyes completed a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of the Philippines.

Prior to assuming this new post, Reyes was VP for business development of Citiseconline.Com. Inc., and president of Citisec Growth and Income Fund, Inc., where he not only developed new business opportunities for companies but also conducted seminars in various schools and with professional groups on the stock market and online trading.

In the new challenge Reyes is facing, foremost of his goals as PWU CEO is to fully develop the students competencies and face the coming school years with greater confidence and certainly building up for PWU’s centennial in 2019-2020.

From where he is speaking and has done so far, Reyes is coming out truly a chip off the old block of the Benitez educationist tradition started by the eminent couple Dean Conrado Benitez and Francisca Tirona Benitez.

Dean Benitez described by historians as a great patriot, nationalist, civic and community leader, among others, was one of the Seven Wiseman who drafted the 1946 Philippine Constitution.

He was the first Filipino dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of the Philippines and founded its College of Business Administration.

Francisca, his wife, was one the founders of PWU and became its president in 1922, a position she held for 45 years. A civic leader, she founded in 1913 the Associaciones de Damas Filipinas, now called Settlement House , co-founded in 1932 the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, and was founding president of the Civic Assembly of the Philippines organized in 1946, now the National Council of Women of the Philippines.

Their only daughter Helena was the first woman president of the UN Environment Program and the first Filipino to chair the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Other Benitezes who headed the school from 1993 to 2002 was Dr. Jose Conrado  enitez, the first male president belonging to the third generation; and Dr. Amelou B. Reyes, educator and civic leader. (By Sonia L. Atabug, contributor)