AGC Power Holdings Chairman and CEO Archie G. Carrasco Inducted Into the BoF 500 Class of 2026
The Filipino media executive becomes the fifth Filipino to be included in The Business of Fashion’s prestigious BoF 500, joining the global fashion industry’s most influential figures
- Archie G. Carrasco joins The BoF 500 Class of 2026, becoming the fifth Filipino recognized by The Business of Fashion and bringing Philippine media further into the global fashion conversation.
- His expanding media portfolio spans major international partnerships, including Condé Nast, V Magazine, LLC, and Hearst Magazines International, with titles such as Vogue Philippines, GQ Philippines, VMAN Southeast Asia, Delish Philippines, and the upcoming Harper’s BAZAAR Philippines.
- His larger ambition is regional, using media platforms, partnerships, and creative infrastructure to connect Southeast Asian talent across borders and give Filipino and Asian creatives greater access to the global stage.
Taking his seat in The BoF 500
Archie G. Carrasco has made a career out of making the Philippine media landscape harder to overlook. On October 2 in Paris, The Business of FashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary officially announced the Filipino media executive as part of The BoF 500 Class of 2026, recognizing his role in shaping the business and cultural conversation around fashion, media and the wider creative industries.
Established by The Business of Fashion, The BoF 500 is an annual index of the people who are considered among the key figures shaping the global fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary industry, spanning designers, executives, entrepreneurs, creatives, investors, and other influential players across the business.
He will attend the new class at The BoF 500 Gala in Paris, alongside an international group of executives, designers, creatives, and industry figures.
For the Philippines, his inclusion also marks a notable addition to a relatively small group of Filipinos who have been recognised by The BoF 500, following Stephen Gan, Mark “Jappy” Gonzales, Bryan Yambao, and Anton Tantoco Huang.
For Archie, however, the recognition goes beyond another accolade on an already busy résumé, carrying significance to the region he comes from.
“It carries a responsibility larger than personal recognition. Global fashion has historically revolved around a relatively small number of capitals, but creativity has never belonged exclusively to those places. Southeast Asia has extraordinary talent, cultures, and perspectives. I hope my inclusion contributes, even modestly, to widening that map.”
The Chairman and CEO of AGC Power Holdings Corp., as well as Chairman and CEO of One MEGA Group and MEGA Global Group, has spent nearly two decades building a media ecosystem that connects Philippine talent and storytelling to wider international platforms.
The BoF 500 recognition arrives after years of expansion across fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary, beauty, luxury, music, design, entertainment and lifestyle, making his inclusion a timely reflection of how far the Philippine media industry has traveled, and how much further Archie believes it can go.
From MEGA to a global portfolio
Archie joined the MEGA organization in 2007 and eventually became President and CEO of One MEGA Group in 2019. Following the passing of founder Sari V. Yap that year, he took over the leadership of the organization and began a period of restructuring and diversification that would expand the company’s footprint.
In 2020, AGC Power Holdings was established, creating a wider corporate structure for a growing collection of media and creative businesses. Alongside publishing, the group expanded into influencer marketing and public relations through DigistarPH, creative and content production through KLiQ, events through Events100, music and video production through 7640 Inc., and Filipino e-commerce through SUNI.
The publishing portfolio expanded just as decisively. One MEGA Group remains home to established titles including MEGA, Lifestyle Asia, BluPrint, The Business Manual, Modern Parenting, The Game, Delish Philippines, and VMAN Southeast Asia, while MEGA Global Group operates international franchise titles including Vogue Philippines, Allure Philippines, GQ Philippines, and Robb Report Philippines. Modern Media Group adds Billboard Philippines and Rolling Stone Philippines to the portfolio.
For Archie, the significance of his expansion lies in more than the number of titles attached to the business. He has been building a company in which international media brands can establish a Philippine presence while local talent gains access to platforms with international reach.
This strategy has turned the country’s publishing landscape into a more connected part of the global media industry, with different titles opening different doors into fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary, music, beauty, luxury, and culture.
Archie’s regional ambitions extend beyond publishing, too. In 2026, he is also among the figures behind Fashion Week Asia, an inaugural five-day regional event bringing together designers, cultures, and creative voices from across Asia through runways, exhibitions, and forums.
The initiative is designed to highlight the diversity of Asian creative industries while encouraging cross-border collaboration and giving individual markets a larger platform within the regional fashion conversation.
Taken together, the developments point to a career that has moved well beyond the traditional boundaries of magazine publishing.
Bringing global names to the Philippines
The first major expression of that international strategy came in 2022 with Vogue Philippines, launched through a partnership between MEGA Global Licensing and Condé Nast. The publication became the 29th global edition of Vogue, placing the Philippines within one of the world’s most recognizable fashion publishing networks.
The relationship with Condé Nast expanded further in 2026 with the launch of GQ Philippines in September under MEGA Global Group, adding another major international title to the Philippine market.
A different international partnership followed in 2024, when One MEGA Group announced its agreement with V Magazine, LLC, resulting in VMAN Southeast Asia, the first international edition of the American men’s fashion title and One MEGA Group’s first regional brand.
The portfolio continued to widen beyond fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary publishing. Billboard Philippines launched in 2023 under Modern Media Group, creating a dedicated platform for the country’s music industry and Filipino artists, while Rolling Stone Philippines was announced in 2024 and officially launched later that year.
In 2025, the portfolio grew again with Allure Philippines and Robb Report Philippines, followed in 2026 by Delish Philippines, through a partnership with Hearst Magazines International.
And the Hearst relationship is continuing to expand. On October 1, Hearst Magazines International and AGC Power Holdings Corp. announced the launch of Harper’s BAZAAR Philippines, scheduled to debut in November 2027.
The strategy is broad, but the thinking behind it is consistent. International franchises provide global recognition and established networks, while Philippine editions create space for local editorial voices, talent, and cultural context.
For Archie, that exchange is increasingly important to how Southeast Asia participates in the global creative economy.
“What is often missing is not talent”
He is particularly clear about what he believes the international creative industries still overlook about the region.
“Sometimes Southeast Asia is viewed primarily as a source of inspiration, production, or emerging consumers rather than as a source of cultural leadership. We have designers, photographers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and entrepreneurs capable of creating globally influential work. What is often missing is not talent but sustained access and visibility.”
It is an argument that gives greater context to the sheer breadth of his media portfolio. The objective is to bring more international brands to the Philippines and use those platforms to carry Philippine and Southeast Asian stories further afield.
A global magazine operating locally can provide access to international editorial networks and commercial partners, while a regional title can create connections between markets that have traditionally been treated separately. The opportunity, in Archie’s view, is to turn that access into something more durable.
It is a model of publishing that increasingly sits between local and global. The masthead may be international, but the editorial opportunity is Philippine or Southeast Asian.
The regional thrust
VMAN Southeast Asia is perhaps the clearest expression of that regional strategy.
Developed in partnership with Stephen Gan, the title became the first regional edition of the American men’s fashion publication, extending VMAN beyond its American roots and giving Southeast Asia a dedicated platform for the men, fashion, and cultural movements shaping the region.
“We need stronger institutions, greater regional collaboration, and more confidence in telling our own stories. Southeast Asian markets should not always need validation from somewhere else before recognizing one another. When we create stronger connections within the region, our collective influence becomes much more significant.”
Southeast Asia should not have to wait for a Paris, London, or New York editorial meeting to decide that something happening in Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, or Singapore is worth discussing.
Stronger regional media can allow those markets to recognize one another, develop audiences across borders, and create more opportunities for talent to move through the region before making the leap onto the global stage.
VMAN SEA sits within Archie’s wider effort to build the connections he believes the region needs, giving the title a role beyond its identity as an extension of the American original.
The bigger business of visibility
For all the international names now attached to his portfolio, his own definition of success appears to sit further down the road. What matters is not the number of titles launched, but what those platforms leave behind for the people who will use them next.
“I want the next generation to inherit infrastructure, not simply inspiration. Platforms, relationships, institutions, and pathways that allow them to take an idea from Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, or anywhere in the region and bring it to the world.”
Across Archie’s career, publishing has often been the starting point for something larger. The editorial platform sits alongside AGC’s production, marketing, events, commerce, and other capabilities, giving creative ideas room to travel further within the same ecosystem.
For the people working inside those industries, that can translate into something much more tangible than a cover story. It can mean commissions, collaborations, introductions, audiences, commercial opportunities, and relationships that continue after a particular issue has closed.
It also explains why Archie’s BoF 500 recognition feels connected to the wider evolution of Philippine media. His career has moved alongside a market that has become increasingly comfortable operating internationally, while retaining a distinctly local point of view.
A Filipino voice in global fashion
The BoF 500 recognition places him in an international conversation, but his comments consistently return to the same question: how can that conversation become larger and more representative without losing the specificity that makes each market interesting in the first place?
For him, Southeast Asia’s opportunity is not to imitate the established fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary capitals. It is to build stronger institutions and relationships of its own, then use those connections to participate in the global industry with greater reach.
Archie’s inclusion in The BoF 500 Class of 2026 comes at an interesting point in that career. It follows a period of notable expansion for international media franchises in the Philippines, alongside a growing number of dedicated platforms giving Philippine and Southeast Asian creatives greater access to wider audiences.
His own assessment of the moment remains bigger than the recognition itself: “It carries a responsibility larger than personal recognition.”
The BoF 500 recognition places Archie G. Carrasco among the names shaping fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary today, but the larger story is what he has been building behind the byline and beyond the masthead.
His portfolio has created more channels between the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the international creative industry, while his stated ambition is to make those channels useful long after the current generation has moved on.
From Vogue Philippines and GQ Philippines to VMAN Southeast Asia and the expanding network of international titles and regional platforms around them, the trajectory is clear: Philippine media is increasingly operating not at the edge of the global conversation, but within it.
Getting the Philippines into the global conversation is only the beginning. The larger ambition is to build the media, relationships, and infrastructure that allow Filipino and Southeast Asian creatives to shape the conversation themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Archie G. Carrasco is the Chairman and CEO of AGC Power Holdings Corp., One MEGA Group, and MEGA Global Group. He is a Filipino media executive behind a growing portfolio of local and international media brands.
The BoF 500 is The Business of Fashion’s annual index recognizing influential figures shaping the global fashion industry. Archie was included in the Class of 2026 for his role in expanding Philippine and Southeast Asian media and creative platforms.
His portfolio includes Condé Nast titles such as Vogue Philippines, Allure Philippines, and GQ Philippines, as well as VMAN Southeast Asia through V Magazine, LLC. His media partnerships also include Hearst Magazines International through Delish Philippines and the upcoming Harper’s BAZAAR Philippines.
VMAN Southeast Asia launched in 2024 through a partnership between One MEGA Group and V Magazine, LLC, developed in partnership with Stephen Gan. It became VMAN’s first international edition and created a dedicated regional platform for Southeast Asian men’s fashion and pop culture.
Archie has said he wants to build stronger regional connections, institutions, and platforms that give Southeast Asian creatives greater access to international audiences. His broader goal is to leave the next generation with creative infrastructure, relationships, and pathways to bring ideas from the region to the world.
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