((L-R) Ricco Gamboa, Tony Stevenson and Wen-Szu Lin cut the ribbon at Uber Clark COE opening last Thursday. Photo by Ashley Manabat)
MABALACAT CITY – Uber’s new $1.5 million Clark Center of Excellence (COE) was launched here on Thursday led by its top executives.
Leading the simple inauguration ceremony at the Skytech IT Park in Barangay Camachiles here were Tony Stevenson, VP and global head of community operations; Wen-Szu Lin, director of community operations for Asia Pacific; and Ricco Gamboa, program leader of Clark COE.
“The Philippines is already home to Uber’s largest COE globally and I’m delighted to unveil our second center today in Clark and reaffirm our commitment to the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region through this significant investment,” Stevenson said.
“It was an easy decision to deepen our investment in the Philippines and open a second center of excellence in Clark, complementing our existing Manila team,” said Lin.
Gamboa said they looked at other parts of the country like Davao, Cebu and Iloilo cities but “we found that Pampanga is best fitted for our needs now and also for the long haul because as we know Clark Global City is planning to revert similar to BGC, knowing that the airport is going to expand, and the trains are coming and just to be able to grow with that and helping that with our brand as well has attracted us here.”
Gamboa also said “the other things that are very attractive to us is the great schooling system you have here like University of the Philippines (UP) Clark, Holy Angel University in nearby Angeles City, and Our Lady of Fatima here to name a few which gives us a pool of untapped talents.”
Gamboa said Uber’s new Clark COE will employ 165 customer service specialists “who will provide world-class support, 24/7, to our community.”
He said, “Uber’s solution is rooted in technical skills, product expertise, and a deep understanding of our customers’ needs.”
He explained that the center will provide support via multiple channels – email, phone, video chat and social media to ensure seamless experience before, during and after the ride.
“As a business we were looking at our massive expansion because we are just growing year after year. We knew that we need to expand beyond Manila,” he added.
Uber’s first Asia Pacific COE opened in Manila in 2015 at SM Aura at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig and employs over 1,000 team members.
The Clark COE, while technically located in this city, is named after the closest port of entry (which is Clark) following a tradition in Uber offices around the world and provides an easy landmark reference to its worldwide operations.
Uber started as a ride hailing application in 2009 headquartered in San Francisco, USA which has now diversified into a number of other services and with centers worldwide.
