Bernardo Villegas received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and specializes in development economics, business economics and social economics. He is the author of several economics textbooks which are widely used throughout Philippine schools and universities. 

He is also one of the founders of the Center for Research and Communication, a private business think tank which evolved into the University of Asia and the Pacific, of whose Economics Department he was chairman for 15 years. 

Prof. Villegas has been special economics adviser to five Philippine presidents and numerous legislators and local officials, and was a member of the Constitutional Commission that drafted the Philippine Constitution under the administration of former President Corazon Aquino. 

He has been a member of numerous boards of leading Philippine and multinational corporations including McDonalds, DuPont, Rolls Royce, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Insular Life. 

Prof. Villegas' other responsibilities include delivering presentations worldwide which serve to highlight the economies of the Asia Pacific region, aimed at both Philippine and international audiences. He has served on the Pacific Board of Economics of Time and regularly writes for both local and international newspapers, such as the International Herald Tribune and the Asian Wall Street Journal.