Gilbert B. Sales

On 15 August 2015, the administration, faculty, employees, and students of Saint Louis University (SLU), together with government officials and representatives from the religious community and other educational institutions, witnessed the Investiture Ceremony of REV. FR. GILBERT B. SALES, CICM as the seventh President of Saint Louis University. “Academic Excellence and Missionary Faith” is Fr. Gilbert’s leadership slogan intended to guide SLU’s institutional life in the coming years of his presidency.

Fr. Gilbert B. Sales was born in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, on 5 August 1962. He has been with the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) for 36 years, first as a college seminarian, later as a professed member, having made his first vows in 1984, and finally as an ordained priest on 25 April 1992.

Father Gilbert has emphasized the importance of an institutional roadmap and adequate strategic planning. One of the aims of this approach is to be at par with other reputed educational institutions, both in the Philippines and abroad, and to be alert to changing needs in the labor market.

Since his inaugural address as president of Saint Louis College, Father Gilbert has repeatedly been stressing the twofold mission of that college, as well as of that of all Catholic – and especially CICM-founded – educational establishments: academic excellence and deepening of the Christian faith, echoing the words of Pope John Paul II: “To think rigorously, so as to act rightly and to serve humanity better.”

Father Gilbert’s assignment for more than eighteen years as a missionary abroad brought Fr. Gilbert not only the opportunity to learn more about different management principles and strategies; it allowed him also to acquire command over several languages including Chinese and Mongolian.