A young man from Negros Oriental — a native of the province whose parents hail from Mabinay, and who spent his elementary and high school years in Dumaguete City — now holds a seat on the highest governing body of one of the world's most selective universities.
Enzo Miguel Kho, a 2026 graduate of Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a certificate in urban studies, was named among eight new members of Princeton's Board of Trustees in an announcement in late June, according to the university. His four-year term as a young alumni trustee took effect July 1, 2026.
Elected by His Peers at Princeton
Kho was elected by Princeton's junior and senior undergraduate classes and by the two most recently graduated classes — one of four young alumni trustee seats on a board that now numbers 40 members, the maximum permitted under Princeton's bylaws.
His fellow incoming trustees include the outgoing president of the California Institute of Technology, the chairman of HCA Healthcare, the retired president and co-chief investment officer of Citadel, and a Caltech professor who received a National Medal of Science in 2025. Kho is, by some distance, the youngest person on that board.
A Board With Real Institutional Power
The Board of Trustees is Princeton's top governing body, holding authority over the university's budget, endowment, real estate holdings, admissions policy, and all major institutional decisions, according to Princeton University.
Kho won the young alumni trustee election in May, defeating two classmates. "I'm super excited," he told The Daily Princetonian following his election.
First Filipino to Lead Princeton's Student Government
During his undergraduate years, Kho served as president of Princeton's Undergraduate Student Government — the first Filipino to hold the post, according to university records cited by The Daily Princetonian.
He also worked as a peer career adviser, sat on the executive board of the Student Volunteers Council, served as community outreach coordinator for the Princeton Filipino Community, and worked as a student coordinator for the Office of International Programs. He performed with three campus dance and arts companies.
Beyond campus, Kho is co-founder of the Alliance of Empowered Youth in the Philippines, a nonprofit that connects young people in rural communities to opportunities elsewhere in the country. He completed internships in Singapore and Malaysia through Princeton, studying the institutions and policies shaping Southeast Asian development.
Thesis Research That Brought Him Home to Dumaguete
Breaking News Negros Oriental first interviewed Kho in Dumaguete last year, when he returned in his senior year to conduct fieldwork for his undergraduate thesis on the business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines' next-wave cities — emerging urban centers positioned as new engines of employment outside Metro Manila and Cebu.
His research brought him into conversations with Dumaguete's civic and political leadership, including former Dumaguete mayor and lawyer Felipe "Ipe" Remollo, with whom he sat over kamote and saging to discuss what the BPO industry has promised the city, what it has delivered, and what it still demands of local governance.
His questions were grounded and specific: What kinds of jobs are being created? Who can realistically access them? What worker protections exist? How do local governments regulate, enable, and negotiate with the industry?
Homecoming Celebration, Then Beijing
Kho is currently back in Dumaguete, where family and friends gathered this month to celebrate his graduation and board appointment — an evening of speeches, a microphone, and orange-and-black balloons in a city far from Princeton's Nassau Hall in New Jersey.
In the fall, he leaves again. Kho will begin a master's degree in politics and international relations at Peking University in Beijing as a Yenching Scholar.
By the Numbers
- 40 — total members on Princeton's Board of Trustees, the maximum under its bylaws
- 4 — young alumni trustee seats on the board
- 4 years — length of Kho's trustee term, beginning July 1, 2026
- 8 — new members named to the board in the late June announcement
- 2025 — year a fellow incoming trustee received a National Medal of Science
Why This Matters
Kho's election places a Negros Oriental-born graduate on the governing body that controls Princeton's budget, endowment, real estate, and admissions policy — an institution with global reach and influence over higher education. His research focus on BPO employment in Philippine next-wave cities, including fieldwork conducted in Dumaguete itself, means his academic work is directly tied to questions of economic opportunity in the region. His path — from Negros Oriental to Princeton's board and onward to Peking University as a Yenching Scholar — represents a documented trajectory that intersects local governance concerns with elite international institutions.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Enzo Miguel Kho / The Daily Princetonian