FAITH Colleges welcomes a new school president

• 17th Jun 2021

Brian Vincent L. Belen, Ph.D. was appointed as the second school president of FAITH Colleges last 01 June 2021. The appointment was formalized in an investiture ceremony held at Limapark Hotel on 05 June 2021. He received the leadership mantle from Mr. Saturnino G. Belen, who ended his term at the conclusion of the academic year 2020-2021.

In the academic tradition, an investiture is a ceremony where the authority and symbols of high office are conferred on an institution’s leaders. It is the occasion when key school officials, particularly the president, are given the authority and regalia to a high office. The recent investiture ceremony completed the management transition plan for FAITH Colleges and marked the first presidential shift in the school’s 20-year history. 

Prior to his installation as president, Dr. Brian Belen was managing director of FAITH Colleges and has been serving on the school’s board of directors since 2004. He brings with him years of leadership experience as president of First Asia Venture Capital, Inc. (FAVC), a direct investment firm founded in 1983. FAVC’s investment portfolio or Team First Asia includes interests in property development and management (Asset Growth Inc.), freight forwarding (AFreight Group), electronics manufacturing (Fastech Synergy Philippines Inc.), aviation (Omni Aviation Corporation), hospitality management (Limapark Hotel), educational publishing (Diwa Asia Publishing Group), and education (FAITH Colleges).

Dr. Brian Belen is concurrently the president of Diwa, AFreight, and Bato Balani Foundation, Inc. (BBFI), the social development arm of Team First Asia. He serves on the board of advisors of the Association of Foundations (AF) and was recently appointed as one of the regional directors for CAR and Region 4B by the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC). He is also a trustee of the Philippines-Japan Economic Cooperation Committee, Inc. (PHILJEC) since 2019. 
 
He completed his bachelor's degree in Humanities (cum laude) and master’s degree in Political Economy from the University of Asia and the Pacific, where he was a faculty after graduation. He also obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees in Economics from the Jesuit University of New York, Fordham University.

In his inaugural address, the new president honored the achievements of FAITH Colleges in the past 20 years and reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring the adequate formation of hearts and minds within the academic community and the seamless integration of technology and humanities in education.

“Having been involved with FAITH Colleges for 17 years now, I have a unique appreciation of the school’s accomplishments and ambitions. In that regard, my objective is clear: to live up to that legacy and to set the school on a path not just to achieve more but also to achieve new and different things,” said the new president. 

He added, “In meeting the challenges that lie ahead, we are fortunate to have the work of the past 20 years to build upon. FAITH Colleges began as the work of a passionate few with one building for its campus and no track record of which to speak. Yet today, we are a thousand strong—administration, faculty, students, and alumni together—with an unbelievably beautiful campus and the reputation of no less than a top-performing school in the Philippines.”

As Dr. Brian Belen takes on more complex and challenging responsibilities, outgoing president Mr. Saturnino Belen will remain as chairman of the school’s board of directors. 

In a special message, Mr. Saturnino Belen expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the entire academic community for their collective effort and perseverance that brought FAITH Colleges to where it is today. He also encouraged them to support the new president so they can continue providing the brand of education that the institution has been known for—the one that is anchored on values and character formation. 

“As the baton is now passed to a new school president, I have every reason to be confident that our institution is now in more capable hands. Let us, therefore, rally behind our new president, so that together, we all can bring FAITH Colleges to greater heights,’ Mr. Belen asserted.

A relatively young academic institution, FAITH Colleges has already made impressive strides in education. It is the youngest higher education institution (HEI) in the country to be recognized as a center of development in Information Technology (IT) by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). It holds a level 3 accreditation for its BS Psychology, BS Business Administration, BS Computer Science, and BS IT programs; and level 2 accreditation for its BS Secondary and Elementary Education programs from the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA). It is also among the first schools in the country to offer senior high school.