Securing Futures with Innovative Insurance Solutions According to Nina Aguas, Executive Chairperson of Insular Life (InLife)

In this exclusive interview with Nina Aguas, Executive Chairperson of InLife, The Business Manual traces her journey to the top of the corporate world.

Nina Aguas is a rarity in the business world: a woman at the top. As Executive Chairperson of Insular Life Assurance Company, the first and largest insurance company in the Philippines, she has reached the very pinnacle of corporate leadership. And yet, even her title–Chairperson versus the traditional Chairman–is fraught with gender issues. Aguas is the first Filipino woman to hold this position in the venerable financial institution that now goes by the youthful name of InLife. She has attained this hard-earned and well-deserved achievement through both grit and good fortune. And if she has her way, thanks to her efforts in women empowerment, she won’t be the last.

Under Aguas’ command, the 113-year-old company she leads has risen to new heights while undergoing significant changes. In 2019, Insular Life rebranded itself as InLife and emerged from the tumultuous pandemic years stronger than ever. For seven years in a row, from 2017 to 2023, the company was honored with the Domestic Life Insurer of the Year for the Philippines by the Insurance Asia Awards. It was also recognized by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) with the Four Golden Arrow Award for its corporate governance practices for six consecutive years.

When it comes to personal accolades, Aguas has become the poster girl for women business leaders. In 2023, the Philippine Daily Inquirer named her as one of the awardees of its Women of Power, while in 2019 Forbes Magazine named her as one of the 25 Asia Power Businesswomen.

This International Women’s Month, The Business Manual spoke to Nina Aguas about her journey to the top of the corporate world. Her leadership is a shining example of the transformative difference women make in business.

Empowering Women with Sheroes

Today, Nina Aguas is empowering women through InLife’s Sheroes, an initiative that champions financial education and literacy for women. For Aguas and the Sheroes movement, the answer is clear: take care of women and women will take care of their children, their household, their career, their business, their community, the economy.

“Sheroes was born five years ago,” says of the origins of the movement, “and it was in partnership with the World Bank and the International Finance Corp. I was asked to sit on the board of the World Bank for gender development. It was there that I had the opportunity to see a study that was conducted in Eastern Europe on how insurance made an impact on women, and I said I want to bring that home to the Philippines.”

Sheroes believes that by focusing on financial literacy and assisting the economic capabilities of women, they can be a powerful catalyst for the economy. It has four verticals: 1) financial education, 2) access to business and social communities, 3) health and mental wellness for women, and 4) health-specific solutions.

Aguas says, “We believe that if she is economically capable, then she feeds the family, she feeds the community. And then, really, [she becomes] a catalyst for the economy.”

“If you look at the Filipino or a Filipina, she’s everything,” Aguas continues. “I always say she embodies love, passion, compassion, and, you know, she’s maabilidad [capable]. And then makapuso din, di ba? [And then compassionate too, right?]”

Over five years, Sheroes has touched the lives of 6.5 million Filipino women.

While today Nina Aguas champions large scale movements like Sheroes after having broken the glass ceiling repeatedly through her career, it wasn’t always so. How did she get to be in this position of leadership?

Circumstances and Opportunities

Given Nina Aguas’ background, it would be easy to assume that she followed in the footsteps of her father, a Fulbright scholar who was educated in the US and in the UK for his masteral and doctoral degrees. However, this wasn’t the case. Seeking higher learning in foreign business schools is a tried and tested path in climbing the corporate ladder, but it was not for her. Instead, she would take a career path that would prove more difficult at times, force her to make sacrifices, and test her patience. Nina was never daunted.

“Whatever your circumstances are,” she says, “they can present you [with] other opportunities that can bring you where you want to be.”

Early in her career, Nina joined the SGV accounting firm as an auditor after graduating with an accounting degree. And it was there where she also met her husband, Mario.

“I took advantage of the opportunities that were presented to me through my work and my career,” she says of those days, “and it was continuous learning. Every day, I wanted to learn something new…”

Eventually, she found herself in Chicago, accompanying her husband as he took his MBA in Northwestern. While she was there, she also considered taking further studies.

“I thought I could get a scholarship,” she says, “but then I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter. It was a harsh winter. I had a one-year-old and [I was] pregnant, and there was no online schooling then, at that time. It was very difficult. 

“So I said no, I have to give up this one at this point.”

It would not be the first time she would put her career on hold.

Career in Banking

Despite this early setback, it wouldn’t be long until Aguas restarted her career, this time in banking.

Aguas credits her beginnings in the banking industry to one of her mentors in SGV. “Early on in SGV,” she says, “a very big person identified me and asked Mr. Washington Sycip then if I could work for him… He asked me to be his chief financial accountant, and so that was it. I worked for him for two years until Mario was sent on a scholarship to Northwestern… So, that gave me an insight on what banking could be and [how] you could look after the wealth of other people.”

Upon Aguas’ return to Manila from Chicago, she was hired by a Canadian bank, the Bank of Nova Scotia.

“It was the start of the foreign banks and OBU [Offshore Banking Unit] was there, and I was in the regional office. And they identified me to train overseas in London, Ontario, and I [would be] there for two months supposedly. And then my husband was calling me, saying ‘Please come back home because we have to go back to the States again.’”

Once again, Nina gave up her career. But, she insists, it was a choice, one that she made “joyfully.”

“I gave up my career twice for him,” she explains, “but then, I wanted [a] family so there was no question. I was investing in his career first… So they [the Bank of Nova Scotia] were very upset because [I was the] first woman to be sent overseas to train, and then you give it up. But it was, again, a choice.”

Being placed in a situation that many women find themselves in, what set Nina apart was her attitude and approach to the difficult situation. While other women may have felt trapped or resentful, for Nina, it was all about intention and keeping your eye on your goals.

“I guess it was my personal disposition,” Nina says. “I wanted a career and a family hard enough, so that I worked on both joyfully despite challenges and I never saw it as a burden.”

“I always say women are soft, and you try to navigate circumstances or difficulties lightly,” Nina continues. “But really, determine your intention to make it happen in terms of your goals. That is when you walk a tightrope and say, ‘I’m joyfully walking this tightrope.’” 

26 Years in Citigroup

After yet again putting her career on hold, another year away from home and another child later, Aguas returned to the Philippines and found work at Citigroup, a company she had long wanted to work for. She recalls that “while crossing Paseo in Makati, I’d say, ‘I’m going to work for that bank one day.’ Because from Bank of Nova Scotia to Citibank, I thought it was a natural progression.” She would spend the next 26 years there. 

“It was a wonderful career,” Aguas says of her years in Citi, “and I guess that’s where I earned my MBA in a way, all of 26 years. To this day, we have very fond memories of Citi. Everything was at your disposal, so you met the best and the brightest, who were generous in mentorship and sponsorship.”

And yet at the start of her years in Citigroup, Aguas was not where she wanted to be. Rather than searching for other opportunities, she exercised a hallmark of her journey to the top: patience.

“Because I was from SGV, they thought I’d make a good auditor, but that was not what I wanted,” she says. “I wanted to be in relationship [banking], I wanted to be head of business, etcetera. But you hold and then you say, ‘I’ll wait.’”

Her patience would pay off.

“I earned my stripes within the audit function,” Aguas explains. “First, they made me responsible for the Philippines and then, eventually, for Taiwan, for Korea, for North Asia mostly. About five territories, including Japan and China. And then, I had a counterpart for the south, based in Singapore, and he didn’t quite work out. So New York called me and said, ‘Nina, can we just give you the entire region?’”

From being responsible for 12 to 15 countries, Aguas rose through the ranks in Citigroup until she became Managing Director of Corporate Compliance, based in New York.

“It was intense,” she says. “It took a lot from me in a way, time away from family.” At the same time, previous “investments” would begin to bear fruit, allowing Nina to be fearless. She continues, saying, “Mario was also rising in SGV, [he] became a senior partner. As I said, I invested in his career first, and I guess it helped me in a way because I could speak [for] myself whenever I am with foreigners or even with a team on the ground. And I was not afraid to lose my job because I knew he could support me.”

Leading InLife

From reaching the pinnacle in Citigroup, Nina Aguas then moved to leadership positions in ANZ Bank and became the President and CEO of Philippine Bank of Communications {PBCOM). It was then that Insular Life asked her to become a member of their board of trustees.

“It was very quietly done,” Aguas says. “At 85, the chairman retired, and at that point in time, they were looking for a successor, and they were choosing… I was considered for both [Chairman and CEO], but I said, ‘No, I can just be the chairman with no executive role.’” 

“And some members of the trustees said, ‘No, we want you to be the CEO, then the chair.’ I said I’ll pray over it. I’ll think about it. Then I just said to the board, ‘If I’m drafted, I will take it.’ But I don’t want intramurals between the boardroom to say ‘These are the three candidates. You get so many votes, votes, votes.’ 

“I said ‘No, I have to be drafted 100%’ because they have to agree 100%. And that happened. So the rest is history.”

Contributions to InLife

Since joining the board of Insular Life in 2015 and becoming Executive Chairperson in 2018, Nina Aguas has overseen the company through a period of remarkable change and shepherded it into a period of equally remarkable growth.

Most visibly, Aguas rebranded Insular Life into InLife.  “It shortens it, in a way,” she says, “and it gives it a younger feel and more to the times because you look at the big institutions here, they don’t call them anymore as… We call SM, SM. It used to be, for those of us who grew up, it was another [name]. So I think the shorter the name, the quicker the recall. That’s my feeling…  So now it comes naturally to all of us. InLife.”

On the challenge of leading the Philippines’ first and largest insurance company, she says, “You should see an institution, a 113-year-old institution that’s capable to compete with the rest, whether it is in digital operations or agency or even bank insurance, for example. We are there.

“We have to be competitive, and we have to find our strengths. We had them, except that they were not visible to the public, and they were not visible to the other stakeholders. So we had to bring that up in a way. Level up, level up.”

Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders

Nina Aguas’ rise to the top is a story of patience, perseverance and triumph. Today, she is an inspiration for women business leaders, but her own journey was full of its own challenges which many women will find familiar. What advice does she have for aspiring women leaders?

“First, I think you have to be authentic,” Nina advises. “You have to be determined and really intentional, and you must know what you want. Maybe not in the beginning, but as you get more information and learning, and do it.”

In parting she says, “And then I have three [things] I always think about, and that is humility, a sense of humor, and humanity. So you always must have the humility to look at ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, and accept them and work with them. “

Text VINCENT SALES

Photography CYRUS PANGANIBAN

Videography OMAR VILLANUEVA

Art Direction ANDREA SANGCO

Sittings Editor RJ LEDESMA

Shoot Coordination TONI MENDOZA

Shot on Location INSULAR LIFE CORPORATE CENTRE