THE true measure of a person’s success is not only based on his achievements in his chosen career, but on how he further extends his talents and skills to be able to help others. Catherine Buan Peterson is a perfect example of this, as she faces a new journey as the new PhilDev President.
Born in the United States to Filipino immigrants, Peterson was the first girl in her family to go to a university. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Stanford University.
She started her career in investment banking, starting with her first job at Robertson Stephens and Co., a high-tech investment bank in San Francisco.
On top of the corporate ladder
In an interview for the PhilDev newsletter, Peterson shared one of her most important achievements in her professional life.
“The CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of one of the companies I covered, Oracle, hired me to work for him directing investor relations and working on corporate development projects. ORCL was the second most highly traded stock on NASDAQ when I was there, so it was a big responsibility for someone in her 20s,” she said.
She continued on by saying that during her stay at ORCL, the company won several awards, including best investor relations for several consecutive years.
Seven years later, she was recruited to help a B2b company, Ariba, to enter the public markets for the first time.
“I was VP (for) corporate finance and treasury for four years,” she said, and added “We won awards for best investor relations by Barron’s Magazine.”
Recently, Peterson was the Vice President in charge of Investor Relations at Business Objects, which she joined in 2005. She was brought on board to rebuild the company’s investment community and its reputation with investors on both the US exchange as well as the European exchange.
She successfully planned and executed a strategy for engaging financial press, industry experts, partners, institutional investors, individual investors and employees in the long-term mission and potential value of Business Objects as a publicly traded company.
As a result of a more effective communication strategy, the company’s market valuation has appreciated over 100 percent to nearly $4 billion in less than 18 months. The company was also named for the first time in its history as one of the top ten IR program in Europe in 2005.
The company was later sold to SAP AG. “That was proof that even in a tough market, there was contribution that could be made. The market value rose in 18 months with a new version of the product, plus an increased transparency and improved communications to investors,” she said. “We won awards for best international investor relations and several design awards for our annual report.”
According to asianpacificfund.org, Peterson is currently consulting at Cavalry Asset Management in San Francisco.
A passion to help
In spite of her successes in the corporate world, Peterson plays an active role in non-profit organizations. She shifted to non-profit work and is currently the Vice Chairman of the Silicon Valley American Red Cross and is a Board Member of the Asian Pacific Fund.
On January 2012, she became the President of PhilDev.
PhilDev (formerly Ayala Foundation USA) is a non-profit organization that focuses on building an ecosystem of science and technology-based entrepreneurship and economic development in the Philippines. It upholds the diaspora philanthropy by generating resources from US-based donors for non-profit organizations in the Philippines.
Her involvement in PhilDev started through relationships at Asian Pacific Fund, where she met Maria and Dado Banatao, Denny Roja and others.
In 2010, she was accepted to the board. Peterson said that she “became so passionate about the mission” that she “wanted to give more.”
Her passion to give back to the community stems from her parents. Her father, an engineer who graduated from the Mapua Institute of Technology, and her mother, a registered nurse for over 25 years, are her role models.
“They came here with nothing-literally nothing-but a wool coat and pockets full of hope,” she shared. “And they built a family, community and contributed talent to society.”
Peterson takes on her role as President of PhilDev, head on. Under her leadership, she aims to continue working on several ongoing large projects like Cloud Top Computing and the Education SuperFund, among others.
“This year we will be more visible in more cities in the Philippines and the US talking about those projects and how individuals and institutions can become involved,” she said. “There will be more forums in major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and of course, Manila, this May.”
She admits that the goal would be to exceed what has already been achieved at PhilDev, which has helped thousands of Filipinos through its fundraising efforts the past years. “This year, we will strive to extend further and deeper with an economic growth strategy focused in science and technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.”
