Dr. Raymundo P. Reyes takes a seat in the corner room of the Rockwell office, door open, blinds drawn. Just like on most days, he is coming in from a long meeting. “I would not have thought I would be in education,” he muses. “As an Engineer, I had plans for establishing my career in drawing plans for buildings or working in manufacturing plants. But after three years in Texas Instruments, I got lucky and got a full scholarship in AIM. I took my master’s [in Business Management] and that’s what set me off in a different direction from engineering.”

Dr. Reyes, fondly known as Emon, joined PHINMAEd in 2007 as Chief Operations Officer (COO) of PHINMA COC. Over the next twelve years, he would become COO of PHINMAEd, earn his Doctorate in Global Executive Education from the University of Southern California, and be named President of five PHINMAEd schools. Having been with the organization almost since the beginning, his journey is a reflection of the various moving parts that today support over 74,000 students in three countries.

“We believed in what we were doing”

“During our early years, it was a struggle for us to increase enrollment. We only had about a thousand or fewer freshman students at the time. There were only a few people who really believed in what we were doing,” he recalls. But once the right systems were in place, the payoff was immense. High enrollment followed better board passing rates and higher quality of the programs. “And so we have what we’re seeing now, which is growth across the entire network. What was important was that we believed in what we were doing.” 

“In the next five years, we can grow this further,” he says with a quiet confidence that shines through much of his work. “We are focusing on how to grow this network we have established in the Philippines to 100,000 in two years. And then maybe grow that further to 140,000 in three or four years after that.” Sir Emon’s goal-driven personality is apparent to everyone he meets, and it’s not just limited to his professional life. When he’s not holding meetings and strategizing for PHINMAEd, you might find him out on the grounds, training for a marathon.

“As you take on the challenge, it will come to you”

“It’s really a lot of discipline and hard work to prepare for a marathon. I was already running short distances at the time, five or eight kilometers maybe three or four times a week. One day I decided to challenge myself, so I set my mind to it: 42k. That was my ultimate goal without really knowing if I had the capacity to finish the 42k,” he shares of his first marathon training experience in 2015. Now, he already has two marathons under his belt.

“You may not know at the beginning, but as you take on the challenge, it will come to you,” he emphasizes. “And there will be people who will help you, train with you, and motivate you. I think that happens also for PHINMAEd.” For Sir Emon, goal setting is more than an activity — it’s a philosophy. He recalls setting a goal to double the PHINMA COC population during its early years. “At the time, I didn’t have any idea how to do it. Sometimes you just have to set a goal for yourself and find out the “how’s” later. But of course, I didn’t do this by myself. It was the team that made it happen. As I said, people will come to you to help you achieve the mission.”

“Success is helping others achieve their goals”

“What’s nice about our job is even if it’s tiring, even if there are a lot of things to do and you have to take home your work sometimes, it’s fulfilling. I hope that each and every individual who joins us, whether in the head office or in the schools, is also able to realize their mission in life through PHINMAEd,”  Sir Emon says. He adds that aligning your own personal mission with the organization’s mission makes a difference. “I hope they will be fulfilled because as they do the work, they also fulfill the mission that they have for themselves.”

After more than a decade in PHINMAEd and the many milestones he and his team have achieved, what is  Sir Emon’s finish line? His answer is straightforward: “We’re catering to a market that nobody else serves and there’s huge potential for them. If we are able to help all of them achieve their goals, that is our success,” he says with an easy smile. “If we continue to focus on what we’re doing, being able to serve the poorest of the poor, there’s limitless potential for PHINMA Education.”