Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2021)

Interview: Yuri Sakurada, DNV Maritime

Pro? les in

Leadership:

Yuri Sakurada,

HR Director,

DNV Maritime

Watch the video @ https://youtu.be/ cVE3XHWW1hU

An engineer by trade, Yuri Sakurada shares insights on her unique maritime path to a leadership role at DNV. hile many careers in maritime start with a passion Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association’s for the sea, this was not the case with Yuri Saku- (WISTA) annual conference, held October 12-15, 2021, in

Wrada, HR Director, DNV Maritime, who fell into Hamburg, Germany, Sakurada said that being a female in a maritime by chance following her engineering studies at the male-dominated business has its pros and cons.

University of Osaka. “But I must say that my passion for the As the female leadership in maritime is still a relative rarity, industry has grown since I started to work for DNV as a sur- she said that “people tend to remember me better, so that’s an ad- veyor for new maritime projects in Japan, many years back.” vantage in a relationship-based industry.” But that positive can

While Sakurada’s path did not start on the maritime track, be a negative, too: “because people tend to remember me well, it has evolved into a full-? edged marine career, as she has they also naturally remember the things I want them to forget … worked as an engineer, a surveyor and a project manager “in when you make a mistake or have an embarrassing moment!” almost services we deliver today.” As the HR Director for DNV Maritime, Sakurada oversees

In particular, Sakurada is intrigued by the contrast inherent a model of diversity, as DNV is an organization with 115 na- in maritime: it is a global business, one of the most essential tionalities among its employees, operating in more than 100 industries for all societies; but at the same time, it is a small countries, with approximately 25% of its employees female. industry. “Relationships and experience are highly appreci- Looking exclusively at the maritime portion of the DNV ated in this industry.” business, there are 3,175 employees spread across 180 of? ces in 67 countries. As one might expect of classi? cation, the ma-

Women in Shipping jority of employees – about 70% – come in with engineering

As a part of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News’ backgrounds, helping to feed the future of this “knowledge- pro? les in maritime female leadership in the follow up to the based company.” 16 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • December 2021

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