Brief Professional Background

REY ELBO is a book author, HR coach, kaizen consultant, and an award-winning management journalist whose pen has been busy since 1993. For over three decades, his insights have graced the pages of BusinessWorld, and since August 2024, The Philippine Star. Before that, he was a fixture at The Manila Times for more than two decades.

Rey holds the distinction of being the first Filipino to win the prestigious Prize for Asian Economic Journalism Award from IE University in Spain — proof that his words don’t just inform, they resonate internationally.

As founder of Kairos Management Technologies (est. 1997), Rey helps organizations improve HR and TQM under a unique philosophy: “Any quality and productivity program can succeed with the active help of problem workers.” He also served as Country Director for Kaizen Institute Consulting Group (Philippines) and once led HR and TQM departments in five major corporations — turning theory into results. His dedication to professional growth has taken him to Japan over 40 times through grants and fellowships from organizations such as the Asian Productivity Organization, Japan Productivity Center, Japan Ministry of Labor and Welfare, and the Toyota-rooted Hirayama Consulting Group. Each year, he personally leads the Kaizen Study Mission to Toyota City, Nagoya, giving Filipino executives an up-close view of world-class manufacturing. Rey’s bookshelf boasts four authored titles: Problem Workers are Created by Problem Managers (2019), Total Quality by Maximization (2016), Lessons to Learn Before They Kick You Out of Your Job (2010), and The Buzzword-Centric Workplace (2007). Academically, he pursued a post-graduate program in Strategic Business Economics at the University of Asia & the Pacific, earned an M.A. in Japan Studies from De La Salle University–Manila, and holds the title of Fellow in People Management from PMAP. He is one of the few private-sector professionals with Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) eligibility and one of only two Filipinos certified as a Toyota Management System specialist by ex-Toyota managers in Nagoya, Japan.