Ambassador Jesus P. Tambunting is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Planters Development Bank (Plantersbank), the country's leading bank for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Plantersbank has prestigious international organizations among its shareholders—the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Dutch government's Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMC)), and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC).

​

Outside his activities in Plantersbank, Ambassador Tambunting is active in the community, being Co-Chairman of the Philippine-British Business Council, member of the Philippine-US Business Council, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation, PinoyME Foundation and of the ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation. He is a member of the Makati Business Club National Issues Committee. From 2004 until May 2008, he served as Chairman of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), a regional organization of 108 development banks in 41 countries. He was recently elected to the Board of Directors of BPI-Philam Life Assurance, Inc.

​

Ambassador Tambunting served as the Philippines' Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1993 to 1998. At the same time, he concurrently served as Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland and as Permanent Philippine Representative to the International Maritime Organization.

​

Ambassador Tambunting held key positions in private institutions including as Chairman of Hambrecht and Quist Asia Pacific and served as Director on the Board of Globe Telecom, Inc. and the Makati Business Club, respectively. The Ambassador also had stints as President of organizations such as the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation Inc., Management Association of the Philippines, Chamber of Thrift Banks, the Development Bankers Association of the Philippines and the Manila Polo Club.

​

Ambassador Tambunting was conferred Master Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2009 by Ernst & Young and the SGV Foundation and inducted into the World Entrepreneur of the Year Academy in Monaco in June 2010. He received the Distinguished Person of the Year 2009 title from the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, the Management Man of the Year 2003 award from the Management Association of the Philippines, the Asian Bankers Association Lifetime Achievement Award for 2005 and was made "Knight Commander with Star" of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 2008.

​

The Ambassador earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Maryland. Prior to that, he had obtained his secondary education from the Culver Military Academy in Indiana and his elementary education from the Ateneo de Manila University.