Making the right calls

Philippine Long Distance exec brings showmanship to visiting professorship

By Angie Orth

The first day of her international public relations course caught PR senior Austin Kouvaris by surprise. She learned her teacher worked at big-name PR firms all over the world, from Paris to Manila to New York, and that he was the College’s Freedom Forum Distinguished Visiting Professor.

She also found out he took a sabbatical from Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to teach at UF during the fall semester.

But what really got her attention was that on the first day, at the end of his presentation, Rene “Butch” Meily, MAJC 1979, shared pictures of his wife and son, Pam and Marco.

“It was so different,” Kouvaris said. “Many teachers don’t bring their personal lives into the classroom.”

She wasn’t the only one feeling surprised. Initially, Meily couldn’t believe the amount of preparation it took to teach his two courses, including public relations campaigns.

The Meily File

Current position: Vice president of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

Career highlight: Managing PR effort during leveraged buyout of Beatrice International.

His other degree: B.A. in Mass Communication from Ateneo de Manila University, 1975.

Favorite UF memories:

1977-79 – Eating at Krystal’s on Sunday night; getting punched at a Gators-Seminoles football game; and doing well during my defense before my thesis committee.

2003 – Taking my wife and son to campus.

Year named Alumnus of Distinction: 2000.

Favorite movies: “Casablanca,” “Gone with the Wind.”

Hobbies: Tennis, working out, skiing, movies.

Favorite songs:  “Where or When”; “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” and most of Rod Stewart’s classics CD.

Favorite sports team: New York Yankees. “My father liked them and, as a boy growing up in Manila, I would listen to the World Series on the radio with him.”

“It’s like doing a Broadway show every day,” he said, “except that you get to write the script and change it each time.”

Once a week during his international class, Meily set up conference calls with practitioners from around the world, including South Africa, Chile and Germany. And he often spiced up his presentations with caviar and other ethnic food.

Meily serves as vice president and special assistant to the president/CEO of PLDT, the Philippines’ largest public-owned company with more than 10,000 employees. He manages the PR department, writes news releases and speeches, oversees the security team and provides strategic counseling to the president/CEO.

Spending a semester at UF allowed him to teach and catch up with old friends, he said.

“I formed great friendships with my professors in the 1970s which continue to this day,” Meily said.

Journalism Prof. Kurt Kent, who has known him for more than 25 years, described Meily as one of the brightest students the College has ever had.

“He was absolutely brilliant and hardworking,” Kent said. “If you suggested something to him, he’d be off to the library researching until he came up with something no one had dreamed of, not to mention he’s about the nicest guy in the world.”

In January, Meily returned to PLDT, but Pam and Marco stayed behind to finish the school year. His students wish he too had stayed – to teach campaigns in the spring, Kouvaris said.

“Having someone teach us who has worked for the top international PR firms in the world was an incomparable academic experience,” she said. “I truly feel lucky to have taken a class with him.”