Rene "Butch" S. Meily, President, Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation

Butch Meily is President of Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, a private sector disaster management organization that includes major business groups. Philippine Long Distance Telephone, his parent company, received the 2016 Prince of Wales Business in Community UPS International Disaster Relief Prize for work mobilizing PDRF during Super Typhoon Haiyan.

Butch also heads IdeaSpace, a technology accelerator for early-stage startups, and QBO Innovation Hub, a public private partnership with DOST and DTI to mentor startups.

Previously, he served as Vice President, Communications for TLC Beatrice International, a food company in New York and Paris. Butch was First Vice President and Special Assistant to PLDT’s chairman and president of PLDT Smart Foundation. Prior to PLDT, he worked for several New York public relations firms and a financial startup in New York.

Butch has an M.A. from University of Florida, receiving its Most Distinguished Alumnus award in 2000 and becoming Freedom Forum Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2003 and a member of its Hall of Fame. Butch is a graduate of Ateneo De Manila University.

His book, “From Manila to Wall Street,” became an Amazon kindle business bestseller when it debuted in May 2025.