Programme Manager · Marine Scientist · Engineer · Musician
Ben
Mansfield
An integrative thinker navigating strategy, science, the sea, and sound — bringing rigour, creativity, and genuine care to everything I do.
Programme Manager · Marine Scientist · Engineer · Musician
An integrative thinker navigating strategy, science, the sea, and sound — bringing rigour, creativity, and genuine care to everything I do.
From a world-first network of community bike spaces to city-wide behavioural change programmes — taking complex, multi-stakeholder projects from idea through to lasting impact.
End-to-end project delivery
May 2022 – September 2024
Synthesised and delivered the world's first network of free, community-run bike repair shops — growing from 4 to 14 locations across Auckland on a $2 million budget.
Ecological Associates
April – November 2019
Coordinated daily operations across nearly 2,000 households and 17 team members. Maintained backend systems for accounting, performance metrics, and database analysis.
Operations, systems & scale
LegaSea — Kai Ika
November 2025 – Present
Overseeing distribution of 2,500 kg of free fish heads and frames to the community each week, and managing the filleting shop at Westhaven Marina — the largest marina in the Southern Hemisphere.
September 2021 – May 2022
Tripled team capacity, saving 500 hours annually, as product owner for CRM, travel survey platform, and gamification app concept. Maintained extensive networks across NZ policy makers, private enterprise, and global suppliers.
Evidence-based behaviour change
November 2019 – September 2021
Developed behavioural science–informed, equity-based transport initiatives including the e-bike loan scheme, unicycle hackathon, and area-based action plans.
A First Class Honours in Marine and Environmental Science, grounded in real-world field monitoring and a track record of turning evidence into policy and public action.
University of Auckland
Thesis: Community, Place and Greenways — Social Perspectives and Meaning of Place in Green Transport Infrastructure. GPA 8.0 / 9.
GPA 6.8. First in Course, Marine 202. Runner-up, Budding Marine Conservation Steward Award (Conservation International).
Research, monitoring & advocacy
Co-convened a standing committee managing ten policies across democracy, global affairs, and science. Led research and drafting of transport, housing, and urban policy. Facilitated a team of eight using decolonised engagement methodologies.
Monitored Auckland's long-term environmental conditions via regular field sampling. Managed databases in R, wrote department-wide protocols, and identified cost-saving efficiencies.
University of Auckland, 2017–2021. Conferences, community events, and public advocacy for plastic-free living.
Founding member, University of Auckland, 2018–2019.
From restoring yachts to pay university tuition, to standing watch aboard a 48m superyacht in New York — a lifetime of hands-on marine and engineering work.
S/Y Arabella · New York, USA
June – October 2025
Contract Yacht Work · NZ & USA
2015 – 2018
Chesapeake Boating Club · Baltimore, USA
May 2013 – February 2016
JWorld Annapolis · Baltimore, USA
May 2014 – February 2015
Multi-instrumentalist and live music devotee. Music is the other language — for everything that can't quite be said any other way.
Primary instrument. From jazz standards to improvised sessions and live performance.
Acoustic and electric. Songwriting, accompaniment, and performance.
Classical foundations, jazz harmony, and composition.
Whether it's a consulting conversation, an environmental challenge, a sailing project, or a musical collaboration — I'd love to hear from you.