ACG Founding Chairman Graduates from Harvard
ACG Founding Chairman and Chief Tax Advisor Mon Abrea finished his Master of Public Administration degree with the Harvard Kennedy School on Thursday, 25 May 2023. He was also awarded an HKS Certificate in Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences.
“When my father died in 2011, I buried with him my Harvard dream,” Abrea said. “I never thought I could still pursue it, given the responsibility he left me as the head of our family.”
Abrea had been accepted into Harvard in 2021, but had to postpone his admission due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He applied again a year later and finally pursued his education after the 2022 elections and the start of the present administration.
He had also faced several challenges on his Harvard journey, not only while he was there but also before leaving.
“It was a bittersweet decision since it was the first time that I would be overseas for a long time,” he explained. “I was especially worried for my mom.”
At the Harvard Kennedy School, he took courseworks in Recessions, Growth and Macroeconomic Policy, Global Governance, Power and Influence for Positive Impact, Science of Behavior Change,, Corruption: Finding It and Fixing It, and Policy Analysis.
He began putting these learnings and insights into a book about corruption. Reimagining the World Without Corruption (2023) is an upcoming publication containing a compilation of the local and global initiatives in the fight against corruption. Reflecting what he learned from his studies in Harvard, the book contains his proposal on how to fight corruption and reimagine the world without it. The book features international organizations that fight corruption like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the OECD, and the United Nations. Reimagining the World Without Corruption is set to be launched on June 15.
Abrea will be returning to the Philippines this June to lead the International Tax Conference and talk about Good Good Governance and Corruption as one of the keynote speakers to be held on June 15.
The conference will gather 200 business leaders, executives, and representatives from government agencies, international organizations, local business organizations, and foreign chambers of commerce to tackle about Addressing Emerging Economic and Tax Issues, Tax Policies and Digitalization in the Philippines, and Good Governance and Ease of Doing Business. For more details, contact us at itc@acg.ph or click this link: //tinyurl.com/ITC-2023
