Dr CJ Manjarres-Wahlberg is an Australian maritime safety professional, educator, and charity leader whose career has joined naval and army service, high-risk operations, and practical training for people entering the maritime industry. Born in Melbourne in 1978 and raised in Victoria, he now works between Australia and New Zealand. He is HSE Manager and Designated Person Ashore (Australia) for Heron Group New Zealand and Chairman, Director, and First Officer of the Sea Heritage Foundation, a registered Australian charity.
He enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in 1996 as a signalman and served for eleven years in active and reserve roles ashore and at sea. His service included the 1997 Hong Kong handover, regional deployments during the late-1990s Indonesian crisis, peacekeeping in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville, humanitarian work in Vanuatu, Southern Ocean fisheries patrol, and joint exercises with partner navies. He was part of the decommissioning crew of HMAS Torrens, the last River-class destroyer escort. After a period of joint work with the Australian Army he continued in the Army Reserve, then moved into safety, emergency management, and merchant maritime operations in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, and Malaysia.
His academic record includes postgraduate study in safety, environmental management, strategic leadership, and maritime and shipping management. In 2024 he completed a Doctor of Business Administration in maritime safety at the Swiss School of Business and Management Geneva. He is a Chartered Risk Manager, a Professional Member of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, and holds further fellowships and memberships in leadership, management, and professional practice. He teaches as an adjunct lecturer in leadership on the University of Wollongong occupational health and safety master’s programme and has served on that programme’s industry reference group. He is also an ambassador for CHIRP, the United Kingdom confidential reporting charity for maritime and aviation safety.
Through the Sea Heritage Foundation he has turned heritage maritime assets into a platform for education and social impact. The Foundation’s “Get into Maritime” programme, launched in 2022 with The King’s Trust Australia and delivered with TAFE NSW, was designed as competency-based Certificate I training in maritime operations for Indigenous Australians. The Foundation reports completion rates well above the national vocational baseline and is developing a Maritime Training Academy with Federation Academy as registered training organisation and industry partners including the Merchant Navy Training Board (United Kingdom), Star of the South, and SERCO Defence and SERCO Antarctic Division. He has also contributed to veteran and volunteer networks, including the Defence Reserves Association in New South Wales.
The American University of Business and Social Sciences and the International Association for Quality Assurance in Pre-Tertiary and Higher Education have conferred upon him the Doctor of Science in Maritime Safety and Leadership (Honoris Causa). QAHE has also admitted him as an International Affiliate Member (IAQAHE). The honorary doctorate recognises distinction already shown in maritime safety, leadership, and community education. It does not constitute a taught research degree and does not confer a statutory licence to practise. Individual membership is separate from institutional accreditation and does not accredit organisations with which he is associated.
Dr Manjarres-Wahlberg’s public work is defined by the belief that safety at sea is both a technical system and a human duty, and that maritime training can open employment and identity to communities that the industry has not always reached.