1th July, 2023: RightShip, the leading provider of maritime data and transparency,
announces the appointment of Ruma Balasubramanian and Jesper Lok as two Non
Executive Directors to its board, adding additional strategic depth and digital
expertise to bolster RightShip’s position as a leading maritime Environmental, Social,
and Governance (ESG) technology provider.
The two non-executive directors will be joining RightShip’s board, currently made up
equally of shareholder representatives from BHP, Cargill, and Rio Tinto. Their role
will be to support RightShip’s executive leadership team and board members with
guidance, applying their expertise to support RightShip in its long-term objectives.
Ruma Balasubramanian, Managing Director, APAC Corporate & Mid-Market
Business, Google Cloud, and Jesper Lok, Chair for Inchcape Shipping Services and
G&O Maritime Group, joined RightShip’s board in July 2023.
A technologist and senior business executive with 30 years of leadership experience,
Ruma has played an instrumental role in nurturing diverse and high-performance
teams in the Asia Pacific region at multinational technology companies, while helping
organisations across industries embrace cloud, data analytics, and AI capabilities to
transform their business and achieve scale. As the Managing Director of Google
Cloud’s corporate and mid-market business for the Asia Pacific region, she is
responsible for driving strategic direction and growth in this segment.
Ruma
previously led Google Cloud’s Southeast Asia business. She is a strong advocate for
diversity, equity, and inclusion, whether it’s creating a work environment where
everyone—regardless of age, gender, and colour—can thrive, or working to ensure
that underserved communities have the capability and opportunity to embrace
technology to improve their quality of life.
Jesper brings extensive board experience across the maritime industry and has a
robust understanding of regulatory institutions and government networks. Jesper
built his career across various executive positions in the Maersk Group, including as
CEO of Svitzer. He currently dedicates his time to Board and Advisory work where
current and earlier positions include organisations like Inchcape Shipping Services,
G&O Maritime Group, CADELER, RelyOn Nutec, Nature Energy and UNICEF.
Steen Lund, RightShip’s CEO said “RightShip takes its responsibility to help build a
maritime industry which causes zero harm seriously. To support our board and
leadership team achieve our ambitious targets, we are excited to bring in the
additional ecommerce, growth and digitalisation competence in the appointment of
Ruma and Jesper, who complement the existing shareholders excellently.”
“RightShip and the board have a shared goal to improve environmental performance,
safety standards and crew welfare practices across the shipping industry. I look
forward to working with both Ruma and Jesper, who bring diversity in thought and
long-standing experience to our board during this exciting time for RightShip.” said
Jan Dieleman, RightShip’s chair and President of Cargill Ocean Transportation.
Ruma Balasubramanian said: “The imperative to promote international trade and
commerce to drive economic development and uplift local livelihoods must be
accompanied by efforts to improve maritime worker safety, protect the marine
environment, and tackle climate change. We cannot afford to blank sail any aspect of
this voyage. I’m therefore excited to join the board of RightShip, as it continues to
drive adoption of its ESG focused digital maritime platform. With our collective
expertise and desire to address this industry’s most complex challenges through
technology, I'm confident that we can make real progress in achieving this
company’s vision of empowering zero harm maritime operations on shore and at
sea.”
“I am excited about joining the board of RightShip and together with the team
contribute to raising awareness on the importance of safety, decarbonisation and
staff welfare to the sustainability of the maritime value chain.” said Jesper Lok.