CEO Spotlight – Chris Mangan

I sat down with Chris Mangan for our Staff Spotlight, recorded on 11 September 2025, the anniversary of 9/11. It was a fitting day to chat with Chris and to reflect a little on what that day meant to him and Corporate Protection.

On that day 24 years ago, the USA was attacked at 2246 AEST – Chris was responsible for managing the port visits of US and Australian naval vessels in Australian ports as well as through Asia and the Pacific. Corporate Protection provided security services for Chris for those contracts as well as advice and guidance in various ports where other providers were engaged by the local authorities.

On that night there was an RAN vessel in Brisbane and USN vessels in Sydney, Darwin and North Queensland. When the attacks occurred, Corporate Protection and other members of Chris’s teams around the country worked tirelessly to ensure all sailors rejoined their ships and the ships put to sea – the safest place for a warship when its country has been attacked.

And so began a new world – the post 9/11 world is as different from the pre 9/11 world as night is from day. Port security changed, air travel changed and even the very notion of privacy shifted.

Chris commented that he was extremely grateful to have the support of Corporate Protection and the individuals on site that night, ensuring the security of both the ships and personnel of those RAN and USN vessels.

“On those, (thankfully) rare occasions when something truly dangerous does occur, you deeply appreciate the value of having the best people by your side.

 Twenty-four years ago, I had those people. It mattered then, and it made all the difference. That night was critical, and it will remain with me forever.” Chris said.

What is your professional background?

My background is broad and spans more than 45 years across a variety of industries. I’ve started a number of businesses in different fields, both in Australia and overseas, but my main activity has been in transport then shipping then logistics in general and naval logistics in particular.

Following my corporate career with two of the big three transport multi-nationals (Mayne Nickless and TNT), I started my own business servicing the US Navy’s ships in Singapore and Australia. At times there was a handful of people and at other times there were teams of thousands – it’s been a very lumpy business with no set schedule, no weekends or public holidays and long stretches away from home. Over one 16-year period I spent about 12 years of that time away.

My corporate training has been invaluable and I’m very glad to have spent those years in very disciplined, structured environments. Over those years my teams and I had to turn around three separate divisions that had fallen on hard, financial times after many years of good profits. The lessons learnt from those turn-arounds – which took 3-5 years each – have also taught me invaluable lessons.

My relationship with Corporate Protection began in 1998 when I became Sam’s 2^nd client. At the time, I had a nuclear-powered submarine heading into Gladstone, and, in a pre-9/11 environment, our primary security concern was environmental risk rather than explosive threats.

I engaged Sam and Corporate Protection to provide additional security and was so impressed with the quality of their people and systems that I continued to use their services throughout Australia.

Even when working overseas, I relied on Corporate Protection for advice on security in Asian and Pacific ports to ensure local provider met my, and the customer’s, requirements.

In early 2012, after more than a decade of collaboration, I bought into Corporate Protection and joined the board. Over the past 13 years, I’ve balanced my business with the US Navy with my commitments to Corporate Protection – as well as other activities like trying to get an NRL licence for the Brisbane Bombers which became the Brisbane Jets. We lost to the Dolphins but it was a fascinating look into professional sport and rugby league in particular – and that 20^th licence is still undecided!

Where are you working now and what are your responsibilities?

In mid-2025 I stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer at Corporate Protection, based at our Holt St office in Brisbane.

As CEO, my core responsibility is to ensure all our staff are kept safe, that our customers are kept safe, that the company hits our budgets and we achieve our other strategic goals.

That responsibility is multi-layered: supporting our staff to perform at their best (& I know from my experience as a CP customer what superstars our staff are); ensuring our systems deliver consistently; and keeping customers satisfied with both the people and processes we provide.

I also want every member of our team to take what they learn at Corporate Protection and carry it forward into ever more success in their lives.

What do you find most challenging or fulfilling in your role?

I’m acutely aware that about 500 families depend on the leadership team making sound decisions. That responsibility is never far from my mind.

Corporate Protection is a complex business. We operate across five distinct units: Asset Protection, Fire and Rescue, Health and Medical, Training and Safety Consultancy. Housing these under one roof makes sense, as clients often need a combination of services, sometimes on the same site.

Operationally, though, it creates an enormous number of moving parts many overlapping, many not. Managing this scale and complexity, while adapting to an ever-changing world, is a constant challenge.

While our leadership structure is not common – I would even suggest it’s unique – our strong communication cadence means that the leadership team are all regularly informed as to what is happening across the business.

One of my principles is that we always be aiming for the “Holy Trinity”:

• Quality service delivery in all that we do
• Rigorous cost control
• Increasing revenue and financial health

Achieving all three is extraordinarily difficult but it’s what we strive for every day.

Profitable companies can do many great things – and we want to do great things for our people, our customers and the many great initiatives we support.

All of that is only possible if we are the leaders in our fields.

On top of that, the rapid pace of technological change, particularly in artificial intelligence, forces us to constantly rethink how we work. The challenge is not only to keep up but to harness innovations in ways that genuinely improve the services we deliver and help you – our team members – to execute your responsibilities better all the time. Naturally the more that people use the technology that is exploding all around us, the more your own skills and expertise grows.

The most fulfilling part of my role is being challenged by the calibre of the people I work with – you, the CPAFIT people. I strive each day to be half as good as you all are.

Over the years I’ve worked with thousands of teams in different contexts and while many of them have been high quality, as we all know, the quality of teams can vary widely.

Here at Corporate Protection, we’ve built an exceptional team. The professionalism, capability, and dedication of you and your team members is second to none in my experience. Collaborating with you and seeing what you deliver for our customers every day is deeply rewarding.

And then there’s the satisfaction of hitting our targets. Those achievements are the result of so many people doing such high quality work and they reflect the collective effort and commitment of the entire team.

And what do you do in your spare time?

For many decades now there has been only a little spare time but there are a few enjoyments outside the professional ones.

For many years I was active in rowing and rugby, but it’s been a while since I pulled the boots on or jumped into a shell. I do some volunteer work at large rowing regattas when I can and being around those is always good fun.

I’ve been a member of my local marine rescue squadron and am active in community groups on Brisbane’s north side where I’ve lived for 25 years.

When I can, I am fortunate to spend a bit of time in Noosa where my darling Diana lives – time there with her is deeply enjoyable, winter, summer, spring and autumn.

Travel with Diana is one of the highlights of my days – we’ve been blessed to have been able to see many areas, cities and countries over the years and I’m eagerly looking forward to the ones we currently have in the planning stages, including Peru we hope.

I also am fortunate to have several long-standing friendships. Some mates I’ve known since we were twelve still get together for an annual adventure which is always a great week.

I am blessed with a large number of siblings and while we are scattered around the world, we gather for family occasions regularly which are always fabulous times. My sainted mother continues to put the children to shame with her energy and zest for life, including being the 92-year-old ‘office junior’ whenever she visits a firm that supports the family business she and dad built.

Simple pleasures are also much enjoyed: spending time on and around Bramble Bay; some hours in the sun reading (I usually have a few books on the go); BBQs with local friends & neighbours and time with my sons and their families.

It seems all sorts of wrong, feeling 35 as I do, but I have one grand-son and a grand-daughter on the way. Spending time with others is something I treasure more and more as you appreciate just how precious time is.