2024: Putting value at the heart of membership
Our CEO Chris Goldsworthy joined us in January 2024, after 34 years as a member. Here he reflects on his first year in the job and shares his plans for 2025.
I moved halfway across the world to become CEO of IMarEST, and from day one, my mission has been to provide value to our members, attract top talent to our industry, and ensure the marine sector upholds the highest professional standards. But when I left Hong Kong in late 2023, I couldn’t have imagined how proud (and busy) this role would make me!
I’m so grateful to be surrounded by exceptional people. It’s been a pleasure working with inspiring members, volunteers, partners, and the head office team to launch a range of initiatives.
Ensuring relevance for early career professionals
We must build on our rich heritage to ensure IMarEST membership remains relevant to a current marine engineers, scientists, and technologists, as well as the next generation coming into the industry. I’m passionate about promoting how IMarEST upholds professional standards, amplifies our industry’s voice, and fosters cross-sector collaboration.
This year, we launched initiatives to encourage early-career professionals to join IMarEST such as our 'Sea Your Future' group, which is making a real impact by promoting marine careers. We also hosted our first Future Leaders Forum in March, and in September, the youth takeover of Marine Professional showcased the skill and passion of those shaping the sector’s future.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to launch a suite of learning and development initiatives in 2025 to help our members navigate their careers.
Bringing the industry together
I believe our community has the potential to create a sea change if we harness the power of our collective expertise, and we have introduced vital initiatives to incubate collaboration and communication this year.
Our new employment portal, Marine Jobs, launched in November, connects employers with top talent in the marine industry. This platform provides jobseekers access to numerous opportunities while giving recruiters access to a qualified, global audience.
How we communicate is also key, and May saw the introduction of IMarEST Connect, an engagement platform that allows members across the globe to connect digitally. Each branch and Special Interest Group (SIG) has its own dedicated section, and we’ve created networking groups for Students, Seafarers, and Early-Career Professionals.
We’ve also tapped into the issues that matter to people the most. Our ‘Oceans of Opportunity: A Change of Tide' digital series dives into the vital work of marine professionals and highlights how their knowledge, skills, collaboration and innovations are advancing a blue economy. The November launch event, hosted by Jo Ruxton MBE, founder of Ocean Generation, featured an insightful discussion on creating a sustainable maritime sector for both people and the planet.
Meeting Members Around the World
One of the highlights of my role is getting out to meet members, so it was a pleasure to connect with so many of you this year. It’s fundamental to me that I can represent the entire industry with integrity and authenticity, so I am keen to explore opportunities for more member engagement in 2025.
Meeting members, potential members and engaging with IMarEST branches across the world has had a huge impact. As a result, we have completed the process of overhauling our corporate membership, introduced special membership rates for seafarers this year, and created more country-specific membership offerings.
In March, I had my first opportunity to meet people from across the world at our AGM (featuring the inauguration of new president Yves de Leeneer), Annual Dinner, and Future Leaders Forum. This was quickly followed in June by our ‘Future of Ships, Shipping and Environmental Sustainability’ Conference, which was a tremendous success.
This October, I also travelled to North America to give a keynote at the Gulf Coast Branch Annual Conference in Houston and attend the launch of our Canada Atlantic Branch. My trip left me hopeful that the wonderful work happening there will inspire many more branches across the nations of North America, and elsewhere.
Next year is already filling up fast, but I’d love to hear about opportunities to get out and about to meet members.
Fostering Technical Excellence
Since joining the IMarEST, I’ve found the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to be a great source of inspiration. The SIGs facilitate industry collaboration and knowledge-sharing across technical areas, producing white papers, webinars, and conferences. Our IMO representatives also use SIG work to inform discussions at the United Nations.
I urge members to get involved, joining a SIG is a great way to network, build your reputation, and contribute to international maritime policy.
This year, I attended several SIG-led conferences, including the Marine Biosecurity Symposium in September and the INEC/iSCSS in November. Both were filled with inspiring conversations and valuable networking opportunities.
Horizon Scanning
As we head into 2025, I remain committed to putting value at the heart of membership. We’re planning several new initiatives to strengthen professional development and supercharge industry collaboration. Together, we are stronger, and I look forward to working with all of you to create an Institute fit for the next 100 years.
