Leonardo J. Matignas, Jr. is a former Partner of SGV & Co. (a member practice of Ernst & Young) and its former Chief Risk Officer. He was also Ernst & Young’s ASEAN Risk Management Leader until his retirement last June 2022. He is a multi-awarded and internationally recognized authority on Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and just recently released his book, “A Practical Approach to Enterprise Risk Management”, first book on ERM written by a Filipino author. Aside from being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the Philippines, he also holds various global certifications namely CPA Australia, Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA).
Leo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce, Magna Cum Laude, from San Sebastian College and completed his Masters in Management Degree - International from the University of Phoenix and Management Development Program at the Asian Institute of Management. In 2021, he completed an executive program, “Journey to the Boardroom” conducted by the Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning in collaboration with Ernst & Young.
Over the course of his 40-year career, he paved the way for CPAs to venture into other service lines such as forensic accounting, risk-based auditing, and in risk management, either as a risk owner or risk champion. He was instrumental in SGV’s accreditation by the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Training provider for Corporate Governance by the SEC, for which he was the lead facilitator. Sharing his ERM expertise, he was part of the task force who drafted the blue-print of the Philippine SEC’s New Code of Corporate Governance for Publicly-listed companies (released in 2016). He was also the past president of the Asian Confederation of Institute of Internal Auditors (the first Filipino elected to this post by internal auditors in Asia Pacific) (2009), Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)-Philippines (2007) and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) – Philippine Chapter (2005). He currently sits as an independent director in the board of PNB Holdings.
Leo was a recipient of multiple awards and recognitions. To name a few, he was the 2019 Winner of the Search for Outstanding Contribution in Internal Audit (SOCIA) in Asia Pacific by the Asian Confederation of Institute of Internal Auditors (ACIIA) awarded in Tokyo, Japan and the First SOCIA PH awardee given by IIA-Philippines in 2018. In 2015, he was recognized by the Philippines’ Professional Regulations Commission for his contributions to the accounting profession and the Philippine Institute of CPAs (PICPA) also awarded him the 2014 Outstanding CPA in Public Practice and National Awardee for Professional Development – International in 2011 and Professional Development in 2005. He received four plaques of recognition from the Philippine SEC for his role in the SEC Roadshow in promoting the first code of corporate governance.