IPAG's Founder and Artistic Director has produced award-winning works that are some of the more trailblazing productions that figure prominently in Philippine Arts and Letters. These works have been widely performed around the country and in over 100 cities worldwide, in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, across the USA, in the Hawaiian Islands, and in a command performance for Prince Albert in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The extensive pursuits of Fernandez include publications, research, and the management of cultural events here and abroad. He lectures in many parts of the country on subjects about his theories and practices on transcreation and distillation, performance studies, heritage, playwriting, arts management, and the Humanities.

He authored The Human Image in the Arts and Making Theatre: The Craft of the Stage, textbooks used by state universities in Mindanao. Directing From the Fringes, a fourth book, is in publication. The seminal studies on the San Miguel fiesta rituals of Iligan City was subject of his first monograph.

Full Professor of the MSU-IIT, Resident Playwright-Panelist of the prestigious Iligan National Writers Workshop, and the first Filipino with a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from a Philippine University, he sits in the Executive Committee on Literary Arts in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) after having sat for three terms in the Committee on Dramatics Arts.

Fondly known in theatre circles as TIBO, he was born STEVEN PRINCE PATRICK C. FERNANDEZ in Manila (the eldest of 10 children) on January 19 to parents Dean Segundo P. Fernandez and Julieta Castillo.

He attended the University of the Philippines elementary and high schools and graduated with an A.B. degree in English at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City. He earned his M.A. in Philippine Studies (with a gold medal recognition) majoring in the Humanities (minors in Comparative Literature and Anthropology) and a Doctor of Fine Arts degree (major: Creative Writing) from the De La Salle University.

He was recipient of various fellowships including the Rotary Exchange, Japan Foundation, and a Anthropology of Theatre grant that allowed him to study under Eugenio Barba in Sweden.

It was his exposure to Maranao and Mindanao cultures after tumultuous years at the U.P. High School when his interest in indigenous southern cultures developed. These experiences in the South nurtured the creative compositions that have been performed, published, and discussed in numerous venues here and abroad.

Most of the over 40 plays and productions he has authored and directed have been critically acclaimed and performed in extensive tours around the country and the world.

His most recent citations are in the Who's Who in the 21st Century (1st edition) and the 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century (1st edition) of the Cambridge International Biographical Centre. The SM has recognized him with a 2010 Global Pinoy award. He is also cited in the Fookien Times' 2004 Philippine Yearbook as a "Defender of Our Heritage." The CCP awarded him with a Pilak for his outstanding cultural work. He won first place in the 2006 Palanca for his one-act play MingMing, among other playwriting awards like the CPP and the U.P. Likhaan, He is Full Professor at the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology and currently Artistic Director of the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG).

Tibo is married to IPAG lead dancer Leilani. They have a daughter Sophia Patrizia.