Marine Log - July 2008 - (Page 24)

WISTA INTERVIEW BY SHIRLEY DEL VALLE WISTA USA President Jeanne Grasso F or the next four months, Marine Log will be counting down the days to the International WISTA conference, “Raising the Profile, Reducing the Footprint,” by featuring a series of interviews with WISTA members. WISTA, the Woman’s International Shipping and Trading Association, got its start in 1974 when five women who worked in the tanker market went out for a drink at a London wine bar. Thirty-four years later, that meeting has spawned 27 international conferences, 20 National WISTA Associations (NWA’s), and close to 1,000 members. WISTA’s goal is to provide an organization where women in the maritime industry can network, relate to, learn from, and mentor one another. Priding itself as an “organization for women in management positions involved in maritime transportation business and related trades worldwide,” WISTA held its first conference in 1981 in Hamburg, Germany. The organization’s USA branch is presided over by the energetic and charismatic Jeanne M. Grasso, partner at Blank Rome LLP, who was recently elected president of WISTA USA in May at the Annual General Meeting held in New Orleans. She spearheads Blank Rome’s Maritime Industry Team, one she considers to be a “terrific maritime practice,” and the largest maritime and admiralty law practice in the U.S., serving all facets of the marine industry globally. Formed officially in September 2006—when Blank Rome combined with the international maritime firm of Healy & Baillie—the group meets every six to eight weeks, with subcommittees meeting more frequently. The team consists of representatives from the Washington, Philadelphia, Hong Kong and New York offices, along with members from the marketing department, to cover all 24 MARINE LOG JULY 2008 practice areas (including litigation, corporate/transactional, regulatory, ship finance and government relations) to review marketing opportunities and other strategic issues. This enables Blank Rome Maritime to provide fullrange of both legal and practical business advice. Grasso is not one to back down from a challenge. Working in a predominantly male field for most of her career has proven to not be a difficult task for her, “I find it challenging and interesting to work with men. I grew up in an athletic, male dominated family, so I can keep up with the best of them. I love it,” Grasso stated. She got her start in the fishing industry – another male-dominated field – as a fisheries biologist and researcher, spending many months at sea, right after getting her Master’s in Marine Affairs from the University of Southern California. Grasso then moved on to work on Capitol Hill for a while for the now defunct House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee before joining NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. After seven years of working in the industry and for the government, Grasso made a change and took a dip in the pool of law. She received her J.D (Juris Doctor) degree from the University of Maryland School of Law, with a concentration in environmental law. According to Grasso, once she obtained her J.D., she dove back into the maritime world by getting in touch with past contacts from her fishing days, and joined Dyer, Ellis & Joseph, which combined with Blank Rome in 2003. It is this very act of networking that WISTA hopes to continue fostering for years to come, both at Blank Rome and through WISTA. The rest, as Grasso put it, is history. Currently WISTA USA has five chapters in the U.S.: Florida, Houston, NY/NJ/CT, New Orleans, and the Metro area (which comprises Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C.). According to Grasso, WISTA USA is hoping to establish additional chapters in California, Washington State, and New England. Grasso states that she is “still feeling the way around the presidency,” but one goal she has her heart set on achieving is to have a successful Annual International Conference this coming October. And how does she define a successful conference? As she simply put it, “Our conference needs to be educational, informative, and exciting to all our members and attendees. We also need an immense amount of support from the U.S. industry to show the world we mean business.” Grasso wants to ensure that the conference provides a forum where members will not only network effectively, but one where more members will be added to the growing organization. She encourages all women in the maritime industry to become part of the organization in order to take advantage of the camaraderie that comes from it. This will be only the second time in WISTA’s 34-year history that the international conference will be held in the U.S. The first took place in New York 10 years ago and roughly coincided with the creation of WISTA USA. From October 15-17 the women of WISTA will be taking over the Big Easy, New Orleans. In a city still in need of support, the first ladies of the maritime industry will unite. They will come to listen, learn, and connect with one another. And maybe, even, enjoy a drink or two together – after all, we are talking about the maritime industry. For more information on this years’ ML conference, go to www.wista.net www.marinelog.com http://www.wista.net http://www.marinelog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marine Log - July 2008

Marine Log - July 2008 Contents Editorial Second Thoughts Update Inside Washington Coastal Shipping Communications Paints & Coatings WISTA’s Jeanne Grasso Showcase Newsmakers Tech News Contracts Events Website Directory ML Buyer's Guide ML Marketplace Tech Talk Gulf Coast Headliner

Marine Log - July 2008

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