WISTA International held the Annual General Meeting (AGM), which took place on 26 October in Geneva, Switzerland, and it announced its Corporate Diversity Award winner, which this year is the Grieg Maritime Group.
WISTA International’s Corporate Diversity Award recognizes companies and organizations making significant strides in incorporating diversity throughout their business and are recognized for their contributions and commitment to improving practices and making working environments more inclusive.
Eight companies and organizations were nominated for the Corporate Diversity Award 2022:
- SPI Astilleros (nominated by WISTA Argentina)
- Log-In Logística Intermodal (nominated by WISTA Brazil)
- APL Logistics Chile S.A (nominated by WISTA Chile)
- Grupo Puerto de Cartagena (nominated by WISTA Colombia)
- Maritime NZ (nominated by WISTA New Zealand)
- Grieg Maritime GroupGroup (nominated by WISTA Norway)
- Arkas Denizcilik ve Nakliuat A.S. (nominated by WISTA Turkey)
- Crowley Corporation (nominated by WISTA USA)
Matt Duke, Chief Executive Officer of Grieg Maritime Group declared: “It is humbling to get this kind of recognition. We know we still have a lot more work to do regarding diversity and inclusion. We strive to be better, not to fulfil some KPI or tick a box in the ESG reporting, but because we want the best people to work for us. With that mindset, it would be counter-productive to exclude half the talent pool. Gender equity, as diversity in general, is about having the best team. We are very grateful for all the women and men in our organisation, and together we shall continue to develop our business and drive forwards maritime solutions for a better future.
For us in Grieg Maritime Group, we have strong owners and a board who also passionately believe in the competitive edge that true diversity brings. This means we can lead and commit to concrete targets with their full support. We are immensely proud that the previous Chair of the board, Elisabeth Grieg, was the first woman president of the Norwegian Ship Owners Association. Likewise, Camilla Grieg was the first female president of the Bergen Ship Owners Association. Their personal achievements and commitments to our industry and the wider world inspire us in our work.”
Stine Mundal, President of WISTA Norway: “WISTA Norway is proud that our nominee Grieg Maritime Group is the recipient of the WISTA International Diversity award 2022. Grieg Maritime Group has, over several years, been putting diversity at the top of their agenda into their strategy and today have a structured way of working towards their goals with actions. They publicly reveal their numbers on gender diversity in their annual report and are not afraid to be transparent with their numbers and make bold commitments and goals.
Over the years, they have had executive leaders and chairs of their boards with a visible voice, not only within the maritime industry but within the complete Norwegian business space on the topic of diversity.
Grieg has for many years contributed with mentors to our ‘Maritime meet up’ mentor program in WISTA Norway and when WISTA Norway launched the “40 by 30” pledge earlier this year, Grieg Maritime was one of the first companies that took the challenge and signed the pledge.”
Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou, President of WISTA International added “The Corporate Diversity Award is very important to WISTA International as it embodies our core values. The organisations that receive this award are a bright example of what we, as WISTA, would like to see be the norm in our industry. Grieg Maritime Group has embraced diversity at its heart and has integrated it as part of its culture. We congratulate Grieg Maritime Group!”
Source: Wista International
Matt Duke, CEO, Grieg Maritime Group
Following the AGM in Geneva, Grieg also hosted a Wista event in Bergen where they shared more about their policies and practices. Among which, diversity focused recruitment efforts, flexible work schedules and covering the difference in salary from government parental leave not just in Norway but for all international employees as well were some of the many initiatives they discussed. Matt Duke discussed how today’s challenges in the industry require high levels of competence, and therefore there is extreme competition for attracting female employees which is essential to utilise one hundred percent of the talent pool.
