Meet Philip Bannerman

Starting point: I’ve been with Wilhelmsen for almost 18 years. I started as an Account Manager for Unitor Ships Service before moving to Wilhelmsen Ships Service and since then have I held nine different positions in six cities.

How do you switch between business areas? You have to invest time in understanding a different business model, different culture and, frankly, putting aside some of your pre-conceived opinions. Once you do that it doesn’t take long to see where each of the business areas was doing something more efficiently or effectively.

The current role: I am responsible for innovation, running the strategy process and for marketing and communication. The biggest change from my previous positions is that at this point, these activities are focused on establishing a new brand in the market. It’s been a fantastic journey so far.

Career support? I’ve been fortunate to have good managers that all understand how career development benefits the employee and the company. But hopefully they were all a bit disappointed to see me move on.

The challenge of change: Prior to having children, a career change was a relatively simple decision – it was part of life’s big adventure. Recently we’ve had to consider our kids’ education and their roots. Fundamentally it’s still a big adventure, now it involves a wider group of people. Moving is not stress-free, but I can honestly say it is worth it. Our kids are developing into better people for the experience.