Juanito “Nitoy” Rosales of Ayala Land recently received the Gawad Sinop Award, the most prestigious individual award given by the Philippine Institute of Supply Management (PISM) to a strategic procurement professional. Out of an excellent pool of nominees, only one emerged as the year’s Gawad Sinop awardee. In recognition of his valuable support to his company and to PISM, Nitoy Rosales was awarded in the Gawad Sinop ceremonies held in Shangri-La Makati, during the Supply Link 2007, the annual conference and trade exhibit for the Supply Chain industry. The criteria for judging included the following: winner must have a significant achievement in the area of procurement as evidenced by bottom-line contribution to the company; influence to the procurement profession in terms of training and people/organization development; and influence to the supply management practice.

Nitoy had started his career as an Engineer Trainee in an appliance company, where he learned all the phases of manufacturing, before he was handpicked by the VP to head the Materials Management Division. Through hard work and perseverance, Nitoy worked his way up the career ladder: becoming the Assistant Purchasing Manager of a manufacturing plant, the Logistics Services Manager of a multinational electrical manufacturing firm, and then the AVP of the same company handling production planning and materials control, import and local procurement, warehousing and distribution.

It was in Ayala Land that Nitoy did his most valuable contribution to his chosen field where he was promoted as VP for Strategic Procurement. He raised the profitability of the said company by institutionalizing electronic bidding and through global sourcing. He is, in fact, one of the pioneers of electronic bidding in the country.

Nitoy is a registered engineer with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. He has also acquired a Fellowship in Supply Management. He also took up a course in Supply Chain Management from UCLA, USA.

On top of all his achievements, Nitoy believes that excellence and values can coexist. Within this realm, nothing is impossible, and one does the best that he can to make things happen. This is what the Gawad Sinop Award is all about. And it is an award well deserved.