Centurion United Kingdom Autumn 2023

|On Board| Jenny Keisu

|On Board| Jenny Keisu of X Shore; right: Captain Kelly Gordon “If you can’t see something, how do you know that it’s even an option?” muses superyacht Captain Kelly Gordon. She’s talking about the scarcity of women occupying leadership roles in the yachting industry, and she’s explaining her motivations for sharing her work on social media with her thousands of followers to help rectify the issue. Data verifies Captain Gordon’s observation about optics. According to the most recent survey by organisation She of the Sea, only 2.1% of yacht captains are female. The survey also identified that only 28.2% of all crew are women, and in the wider yachting sector, such as at brokerage houses and shipyards, female employees make up only 34%. “I knew that I was someone who didn’t fit into the room at first,” recounts Jenny Keisu, who became the CEO of Swedish electric boatbuilder X Shore in 2019. “As a female CEO, especially in the boating industry, you obviously stand out from the beginning,” she observes. Despite being such a small proportion of the workforce, women’s contributions have been sizeable. At the helm of X Shore, Keisu has helped lead an electric revolution in the industry. The Nyköping-based company is still the only large-scale manufacturer of fully electric vessels and was the first of its kind to reach price parity with the rest of the boating market on its dayboats and superyacht tenders. Keisu attests that the company’s success is fuelled by hiring individuals who you wouldn’t normally see in the sector. “Research proves that you increase innovation and results through diversity of thought,” she explains. Keisu elaborates that she “had the luxury of building and hiring the right team from the very beginning” in order to create “a diversified company”. X Shore’s employees – including those on the production line – are now 40% women, with a 50/50 gender split in senior positions. Jacqui Lockhart, who became the European head of charter management for Camper & Nicholsons in early 2022, agrees with Keisu that “it’s good to have a mix of people in your team who you can associate with the right client. Because we have got very diverse clients.” Lockhart’s career in brokerage spans over 20 years, over a decade of which saw her running her own yacht management company. The Scot remembers incidences of owners and captains sometimes addressing her husband first, thinking he was the boss of her business. “But I wouldn’t say that I’ve suffered,” Lockhart reasons, adding that C&N’s previous female CEO, Jillian Montgomery, helped pave the way for Lockhart and others. Lockhart’s current role sees her performing “a juggling act” of leading a team of brokers as well as PHOTOS FROM LEFT: © X SHORE, RYAN FLANERY / ELEVEN SEVENTEEN MEDIA 84 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM

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