Cebu-based Vivant Corporation has named its new President and new CEO.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, the company has appointed Emil Andre Garcia as its new President and Arlo Sarmiento as its new CEO. Both men are taking over on February 7 from Ramontito Garcia, who will be retiring as both President and CEO.

In a report by BusinessWorld, Sarmiento said that it would be challenging to lead a business that has gone through drastic changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the onslaught of Typhoon Odette. The Visayan Electric Company (VECO), in which Vivant owns a 40% stake, took a heavy toll from Odette. VECO is the country’s second largest private distribution utility, 

Ramontito Garcia, who will remain as Vivant’s chairman, said that his retirement brings opportunities for the next generation to bring innovations to the company, as well as new leadership methods while upholding the core values that “brought Vivant to where it is now.”

Aside from its stake in VECO, Vivant is also involved in power generation, as it owns a 16-megawatt (MW) diesel plant in Palawan. It also partly owns a 246MW coal-fired power plant in Toledo City, Cebu with Manny V. Pangilinan-led Global Business Power Corporation.

Vivant currently has 357MW worth of attributable capacity under its portfolio. 

In the third quarter of 2021, Vivant posted an attributable net income of Php1.25 billion, up 6.8% from the same period in 2020.