MANY of her contemporaries have either retired altogether from the entertainment industry or are now reduced to mother—even grandmother—roles.

Award-winning actor Charo Santos, now Concio, took a detour that, while still keeping her foot in the industry, put her in a position where she calls the shots and decides what she will or will not do. Instead of waiting for crumbs, so to speak, Concio is the one distributing the bread, her decisions able to make or break aspiring talents wanting to make it in the highly competitive, demanding and volatile world of show business.

But then Concio is also unlike her contemporaries, and other showbiz denizens before and after her. While others could not see beyond the now of their careers, she had the good sense to realize that in the fickle world of entertainment, the shelf life of most people, particularly those who are in front of the camera, is rather short. Women, in particular, can get easily replaced by dewy-eyed, fresh-faced newcomers, eager to do anything for “art’s sake”, or so they delude themselves.

Concio prepared herself well for a life beyond acting. Today, although she remains very much a part of the industry that made her a household name, she prefers to “perform” in boardrooms and executive offices, making only occasional appearances in front of the camera, specifically as host of ABS-CBN’s longest running drama series Maalaala Mo Kaya, which celebrated its  20th anniversary recently.

These occasional trips down memory lane notwithstanding, everybody who knows anything about showbiz knows that Concio’s real star turn these days is as president and chief operating officer of ABS-CBN. Her position makes her, in the eyes of many, even those who are not involved in the entertainment industry, truly a woman of power.

How does Concio feel about the title?  Concio acknowledges the influence she is able to wield in her current job. “Anyone in my position will have some amount of power. I am happy that I can   somehow influence our company’s behavior in ways congruent with my personal values while serving our shareholders, our staff, our audience and our partners.”

But she is quick to belie any impressions that hers is a one-woman rule. “This power is shared with many other officers. Our decisions are thoroughly discussed in executive committees and board meetings,” she adds.

As ABS-CBN president, she says, “My duties are both looking forward and looking in. Together with the chair and other officers, we set the vision. Then I have to make sure that everything we do day-to-day is in the direction of that vision. Balancing goals, opportunities and budgets, I have to decide which actions will take priority.”

Concio did not land her current star turn by her looks that first launched a modeling career and then movie and television stardom; or her acting awards (she was named Best Actress in the 1978 Asian Film Festival in Sydney, Australia, for her work in the movie Itim.) She did not get to be where she is simply because ABS-CBN wanted someone pretty to be the public face of the network.

Not very many people probably know that she kind of rose from the ranks, beginning her behind-the-scene role at ABS-CBN as a television production consultant in 1987. Before that, she had already started to build a career away from center stage by working as a line producer for BanCom, Audiovision, Vanguard Films, Regal Films and Vision Exponents. She also worked as a film production manager for the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines.

The cum laude communications arts graduate of St. Paul’s College in Manila also supplemented and complemented her practical experience with some academic grounding by participating in the monthlong Advanced Management Program of the prestigious Harvard Business School in the United States.

Concio believes her experience as actress and producer have helped in her new role. “I am in my element when thinking of how we can make emotional connections with the Filipino. That happens to be the core of our business. Along the way I was mentored by my film directors and more senior colleagues. I learned a lot from my predecessors. I am always inspired by the visions of our chair Gabby Lopez.” Concio took on her corporate role with very little fanfare despite the power the position holds, unlike in the US where the appointment of another former actor, Sherry Lansing, as the first woman head of a Hollywood studio merited so much media coverage.

Concio thinks the matter-of-fact attitude by the public toward her appointment is because “gender is not a major corporate concern in our country. We are not looking for the right man or the right woman but the right person. In the broadcast industry, a female company president wouldn’t be a big surprise because there have been many big-name female executives before me.”

She will not even say that a woman network president is better than a man. They are “only different in some ways. I can be like a mother who believes in ‘tough love.’ When I confront an issue, I can call attention to poor performance but they will also know that I just care enough for them to learn and grow.

“If you believe that women are more in touch with their emotions, you may count it as a strength because we are in the business of making emotional connections with our audience.  In line with this, I organized a drama script analysis workshop for all our executives, even those in finance and IT [information technology].”

But she acknowledges that for a woman, who traditionally has to assume more responsibilities in Filipino families, one possible disadvantage is that she can be distracted by household concerns. Luckily for her, her family has made it easy for her to do her job as a corporate executive. “Buti na lang, my family has been quite supportive,” she says.  Family consists of husband Cesar Rafael Concio Jr., a lawyer, and sons Cesar Francis and Rafael Martin.

While many managers guard their jobs so jealously that they would not contemplate grooming an heir or heiress, Concio hopes that by the time she leaves her job, finding her replacement will not be a major operation for the network. “When my term ends, my wish is that I would have helped develop a lot of good leaders. That’s why I prefer to delegate, coach and trust. ABS-CBN has many brilliant executives so I admiringly give them my support. I still have to make the tough calls that’s why I attend a string of meetings every day,” she says.

Since she became president of ABS-CBN, Concio thinks her greatest accomplishment was helping the company and its people regain its self-confidence and enthusiasm after “we lost our Mega Manila leadership in the ratings in 2005. I set myself as an example of someone who can be humbled but can bounce back and lead. Today, we are a much stronger company.”

Today, Concio has definitely grown into her new role away from the camera and is more comfortable wearing the badge of power. “A long time ago, our former chair, Geny [Eugenio] Lopez told me that he’d like ABS-CBN to have a lady president someday. At the time, I was not ready to believe it. But his trust in me taught me to believe in myself, too.”