Rene Nieva
Chairman & CEO, Perceptions, Inc & Past Chairman - IPRA Philippine Chapter

Rene Nieva is chairman and president of Perceptions, Inc. He put up the company in January 1987 and it has since grown to become one of the country’s leading PR firms. It counts among its current clients major Philippine and international organizations such Airbus, Amway, Business Software Alliance, Cisco Systems, HK Tourism Board (HKTB), Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft.

Perceptions has won numerous local and international awards, including Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), Gold Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Golden World Awards from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). It won the top Anvil Award, the Grand Anvil, in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Nieva started his PR career in 1962 with Business Relations International (BRI) headed by Filipino PR pioneer Jose Carpio. From 1968 to 1976, he worked for the international PR firm Curtis J. Hoxter, Inc. in New York where he rose to the position of Vice President.

He returned to the Philippines in 1976 and organized the Public Affairs Office of the Bancom Group, then a leading financial/business conglomerate, heading said office as Director. In 1979, Exxon Chemicals Asia Pacific (ECAP) chose Nieva from among various candidates from Southeast Asian countries to be its Public Affairs Advisor for ASEAN based in Manila. In 1985, he was promoted to Public Affairs Associate of ECAP based in Hong Kong. He went back to Manila in 1986 and organized Perceptions.

Nieva served 4 terms as National Chairman of the Philippine Chapter of the IPRA. He is also a member of the PRSP (which has accredited him as an APR), the Philippine Association of PR Counselors (PAPRC), as well as of various business and civic organizations such as the Rotary Club of Makati West and the Knights of Rizal.

He graduated with an A.B. degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University where he was a consistent honor student. He also obtained an an M.A. degree in Corporate and Political Communications from Fairfield University in Connecticut, U.S.A., finishing at the top of his class.

Nieva has also distinguished himself as a writer, winning writing contests at the Ateneo and first place (1967) and third place (1966) in the National Rizal Essay Writing Contest of the Knights of Rizal. He wrote the lyrics for the song Biyahe Tayo! which was used by Pfizer Bonamine and the Dept. of Tourism for the WOW Philippines Biyahe Tayo! campaign in 2004 to promote domestic travel and for the theme song “We’re All Just One” of the 23rd South East Asia Games held in the Philippines from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5, 2005. He has also contributed a poem and an essay in the book “Magandang Filipina: Beauty for Life” by Ronnie Alejandro.