Cyprus-based Columbia Group has appointed Ulla Eithz Nielsen as deputy Chief Operating Officer (COO), as the group continues to build out its integrated global maritime services platform and reinforce leadership at group level.

In that context, Eithz Nielsen joins Columbia after more than six years in senior leadership roles at V.Group, where she held a number of operational and executive positions, including managing director roles within the group.

During that period, she worked across complex, multi-layered operating structures, experience that closely aligns with Columbia’s current phase of development.

That operational grounding is rooted in a career that began at sea. A qualified master mariner, Eithz Nielsen later moved ashore with A.P. Moller – Maersk.

She then spent a decade at NORDEN, where her responsibilities covered process excellence, business applications and business intelligence. Taken together, those roles shaped her subsequent work at V.Group, where she played a key role in developing and rolling out group-wide operating models.

Against this professional background, her new position at Columbia will see her working closely with the executive leadership team, with a focus on operational alignment, organisational effectiveness and the long-term development of the group’s activities across ship management and related maritime services.

Columbia’s chief operating officer Leonid Zalenski said Eithz Nielsen brings both structure and scale to the role.

She has “a strong operational mindset and a deep understanding of how maritime organisations need to be structured to perform consistently at scale”, he said, adding that her experience “will support our continued focus on clarity, accountability and effective delivery across the group”.

From her side, Eithz Nielsen said she was “looking forward to working closely with the Columbia team as the group continues to invest in its operational platform and digital capabilities”.

She added that she had been “very warmly welcomed” and was enjoying working closely with Zalenski and the wider leadership team.

In particular, she identified digitalisation as a key area of focus, saying that, “when used properly, it can simplify how we work, support better decision making and allow teams to spend more time on what really matters”.

Building on that, she said Columbia “already has a strong foundation in this area and there is clear potential to build on it as the business continues to evolve”. On a personal note, she added that relocating to Cyprus had been smooth, with “the sunshine certainly been a welcome bonus”.

At group level, Columbia Group chief executive Mark O’Neil said the appointment reflects the direction the business is taking as it strengthens its leadership for the long term.

As the industry faces increasing operational complexity, regulatory pressure and digital transformation, reinforcing leadership is essential, he said, adding that Eithz Nielsen brings “the judgement, experience and organisational focus that will support both our clients and our people as the group continues to evolve”.