World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development - Chat with Claudia Paschkewitz, Group Director Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion

On World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development, Claudia Paschkewitz (Columbia Group Director Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion) and Sean Moloney (Elaborate Communication's CEO) discuss the importance of dialogue in the workplace, as well as the initiatives which have taken place within Columbia Group in support of this topic.

Claudia Paschkewitz has been working in the maritime industry since she began her apprenticeship as a shipping clerk in 1989. She joined the Columbia family in 1991 when she joined Hanse Bereederung GmbH as an operator, and after gaining years of experience in the brokerage business, she became the Managing Director of the company. She later took on further duties and responsibilities as Managing Director of Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH, one of her many titles today.

Claudia has many interests close to her heart; one of them being sustainability, which is why she was delighted to accept the role of Group Director Sustainability. Another special focus for Claudia is people – she considers them of central importance. In her role as CSM Group Director Diversity and Inclusion she is able to shape and live the company's D+I culture together with all employees.

Claudia feels strongly about the promotion of the younger generation, too, and has been leading the apprenticeship and student programme for Columbia Group for many years. She is also a member of WISTA Germany.

Deeply connected to the Group for over 30 years, Claudia sees the company's core values of absolute importance to her, adding that they reflect in her day-to-day actions.

Claudia also covers diversity in shipping, as well as career development based on traditional biases and discrimination, saying “Everyone needs to feel accepted, irrespective of their racial background, gender, age, sexual orientation, social background, just to mention a few of the diversity dimensions.” She adds, “Everyone needs to be able to identify with the company’s values, and if this is not the case, people feel alone, isolated. It is of course more likely that they will leave the company.”

Together we can make a difference by encouraging creative dialogue, which can in turn not only spark new ideas but promote collaboration and increase productivity.