Fr. Nielo M. Cantilado, SVD President, Divine Word College of Legazpi
Personal Background
Father Cantilado is the President of the Divine Word College of Legazpi in Albay, Philippines since 2017 to the present. His seat at the University’s Board of Trustees comes with a wealth of leadership experience in the Society of the Divine Word and other institutions.
He served as the Provincial Superior of the Philippine Central Province from 2007-2017 as well as its Vice-Provincial Superior in 2005-2007. Concurrent to this latter post, he was also School President of the Divine Word College of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro. He is currently a trustee of several boards namely the Divine Word Colleges of Legazpi, Calapan, and San Jose, and the Divine Word Educational Association. He previously sat in the boards of the Institute of Religious Studies (2017-13), St. Jude Catholic School (2007-17), and Samahang Bagong Buhay Foundation (2007-17). He served as Chair (2008-17) of the Boards of Directors of Catholic Trade Store Manila and Logos Publications, Divine Word Educational Association (2014-17), and President of the Board of Trustees of Divine Word Institute of Missions Studies (2014-17).
Fr. Cantilado finished his A.B. Philosophy (1983) and Theology (1988) from the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay. He earned his M.A. Educational Management from De La Salle University in 2005. He was ordained a priest in 1987 and is a missionary of the Society of the Divine Word, serving as Assistant Parish Priest in Zambia, Africa in 1989-92 among other numerous assignments.