Our Team

Ocean Exchange Team

Justin Manley

Virtual CxO – Technologist, Executive, Advisor in Oceantech and Robotics

Justin Manley is an innovative technologist and executive with experience in startup, public corporation, academic, and public sectors.

He is a recognized leader in uncrewed systems development and operations. Mr. Manley has been working with marine technology and robotics since 1990. He was a principal in the development of uncrewed marine vehicles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1993 to 2002. Between 2002 and 2009 Mr. Manley provided marine technology consulting services, primarily to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he was the founding Chair of the NOAA-wide AUV Working Group.

In 2009 Mr. Manley transitioned to the private sector, joining Liquid Robotics during its startup phase. There he was responsible for developing new commercial and scientific programs based on the Wave Glider. In 2011 Mr. Manley joined Teledyne Benthos as Senior Director of Business Development where he managed a diverse product portfolio and led the development of a networked systems strategy across Teledyne Marine Systems (Benthos, Webb Research, Gavia, and SeaBotix).

Drawn back to entrepreneurial endeavors Mr. Manley founded Just Innovation Inc. in mid-2015.He supports clients from startups to multi-national corporations with core technical specializations in uncrewed vehicles, robotics, sensors, and undersea systems. Mr. Manley offers clients support with strategy and innovation, business and product development, evangelism, and marketing. In this capacity he serves as Senior Advisor to Oceankind and as a Technology Venture Partner for Alpha Impact Investment Managers (AiiM).

Mr. Manley is extensively involved in the marine technology profession through a variety of leadership roles. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Life Member and President of the Marine Technology Society (MTS), a Fellow of the Institute for Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMAREST) and was a founding member of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Advisory Committee. He is dedicated to innovation, serving as an advisor to numerous startup companies and a judge for the XPRIZE Foundation. He holds two patents in the area of uncrewed systems oversight and security.

Contact Us

Ocean Exchange invites you to learn more about Awards Program, our ecosystem and success of our award winners and participants. Together, we can chart a powerful course to help ensure the future of our oceans and the Blue Economy.

“Ocean Exchange has a platform to enable people with information that they need to know about the ocean and then to showcase new technologies that are on the forefront of really helping the ocean and the planet.”

“The quality of the content and the people who are involved with Ocean Exchange is all high end.”

“Besides funding, Ocean Exchange provides access to a wide area network of incredibly talented people in organizations that really do just want to help people.”

“Ocean Exchange is really about helping the little guys grow and in so doing, helping the big guys be better ocean citizens.”

“Ocean Exchange seems to be much more focused on bringing to light under-capitalized, wonderful new technology ideas. And it’s all about two-way access to this new technology and to the people who can help with the experience to grow that technology.”

“Ocean Exchange is a force multiplier to enable sustainable innovation.”

“Ocean Exchange is a global, novel innovation forum that has a greater ability to attract a broader range of impactful stakeholders than any other event that’s out there.”

“Unquestionably, one of Ocean Exchange’s primary strengths is how it brings together people from different paths. That makes its event a delegator experience as well as experience for an innovator or awards nominee.”

“Ocean Exchange is entirely different from any of the other organizations that I’m involved in. It is about sustainable innovation. I think it’s also very different in the extremely broad range of stakeholders that it involves.”

“There’s nothing better than going to an event or engaging with people so you walk away and say, ‘Wow!’”