Esther Maria Loidl is the Chief Human Resource Office of Freudenberg SE and a Member of the Management Board of Freudenberg & Co. She is the first woman on the Board in the company’s history. She is responsible for more than 48,000 employees worldwide, and her task is to create a working environment in that Freudenberg is one in which all employees, regardless of gender, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion, feel at home, respected, heard and valued. Besides, she is focusing on addressing diversity in the global HR strategy.

Hailing from Austria and studying tourism, Esther Maria Loidl began managing a hotel in the initial days of her career, dealing with people from different parts of the world. Later she joined Brose, a family-owned automotive component manufacturing company and stayed there for about 16 years. Subsequently, she joined yet another family-owned company, Freudenberg, where she currently holds key positions. She is currently the Chief Human Resource Office at Freudenberg SE and a Member of the Management Board at Freudenberg & Co.

Women are motivated and often amazingly educated; they have the drive and energy and can multi-task to handle immense pressure.

According to her, there’s amazing talent among women professionals in India, and there is a bright future for women executives. “I don’t think there is an advantage of being a woman; it is all about inclusive work culture. Giving good education to women is important, but I think it is still a challenge in many countries.”

Esther says that the inter-cultural aspects, working in Mexico as an Austrian and dealing with many Americans, gave her a lot of learnings about culture.

“My expertise in the tourism industry taught me a lot about human beings and interacting with people. Long-term orientation and a strong focus on employees of family-owned companies motivated me much. I learnt a lot about structures, processes and the idea of lean management from the automotive industry.”