FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin We are pleased to host an exclusive interview with Francesco Gargiulo, who has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC) since 2015. Francesco explains how IMEC tackles the current challenges facing the industry and calls for a change in mindset regarding crew welfare. Seafarers’ welfare initiatives should not be perceived as a cost but rather as an investment, he comments. Additionally, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) should be approached from a strategic perspective as a key method to expand the pool of qualified officers. In this regard, IMEC has implemented associated initiatives to empower women and increase their participation. For example, it has established a dedicated D&I Working Group and implemented several Key Performance Indicators to monitor progress, particularly in terms of the recruitment of female cadets and their advancement to officer positions. RelatedNews WISTA introduces new International Associate Membership Watch: Seafarers trapped in crisis as conditions in the Hormuz deteriorate var jnews_module_21310221_0_6a02afe0f2d39 = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related","second_title":"News","url":"","header_type":"heading_8","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_post_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_tribe_events_cat":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_category":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","sticky_post":false,"sticky_post_filter":false,"post_type":"post","content_type":"all","sponsor":false,"number_post":"2","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"unique1","include_post":"","included_only":false,"exclude_post":"21310221","include_category":"","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"3838,3613,1613,2341","exclude_tag":"","exclude_visited_post":false