Our Management
Atty. Erlend Grimstad
Managing Director
The current Managing Director of the Norwegian Training Center. Mr. Erlend Grimstad is also a lawyer and has experience in serving both the Norwegian government and business.
He has been the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy as well as the Ministry of Agriculture. Prior to that he was a financial advisor in the Norwegian Parliament.
He served as Executive Vice President in one of the largest privately held group in Norway – the Umoe-group which amongst others held a significant part of Knutsen OAS Shipping. He has been Managing Partner in corporate finance firm ProCorp ASA. He also served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Intex Resources ASA.
Mr. Grimstad has amongst others been Chairman of the board in Schat Harding AS, Vice Chairman of the Bergen Group ASA, member of the board at Unitor ASA and Vice Chair of the corporate assembly in Statoil ASA all with significant maritime exposure.
Mr. Grimstad holds Master’s Degree in Law, an Undergraduate and Law degree from University of Oslo and has attended the Programme for Executive Development at IMD.
Capt. Jo Even Tomren
Deputy Director
Capt. Jo Even Tomren is the appointed Deputy Director at NTC, who oversee the NSA Cadet Program in the Philippines, under the foundation NMFPI. In addition, he is very involved in the training center, both as a maritime adviser but also as an Assessment Supervisor and Human Factor specialist.
In between an active sailing career as an Deck Officer, starting as 2nd Officer and finished as a Captain he has had various short and long term engagement and been working on various projects as Instructor at a maritime rescue training center, lecturer at NTNU (handling and transportation of dangerous cargo offshore), Maritime Advisor (DP, FMEA, FAT, crane and heavy lifting), crew management, emergency response advisor, technical advisor, QHSE inspector and advisor (UK Safety Case and Norwegian AoC) and sea trial responsible and commissioning for new builds.
He has had a period at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), as Sales & Development Manager with the responsibility of development of new trainings and competency in cooperation the Maritime Departments. Extended Market planning and plans and strategy for the requirements for the maritime industry was also a part of the responsibilities.
Capt. Tomren graduated as Master Mariner at the Nautical College of Aukra VGS in 1999 and had his Master’s Degree of “Management of Demanding Maritime Operations” from Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU in Norway).
Capt. Nebuchadnezzar "Bong" Rabaya
Training Manager
A graduate of Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Class of 1995, Capt. Bong Rabaya started his career on board cruise vessels from 3rd Officer to 1st Officer and Safety Officer on a worldwide trade. His last company was with Orion Expedition Cruises trading Australasia, the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic regions. He was a trainer both onboard and ashore on various Safety Courses including Crowd and Crisis Management.
He left the cruise industry in 2007 and joined the booming Offshore industry particularly Dynamically Positioned Subsea Operation Vessel performing various projects such as Drilling, Pipelay to name a few. His love for training continued as an accredited Nautical Institute Trainer for Dynamic Positioning Courses.
After obtaining his Master’s in Business Administration in 2016, he retired from sea life as a Captain and answered the call of a permanent shore job. In that same year, he joined the Norwegian Training Center as a Training Manager and introduced changes in approach aligning his style of leadership with the company’s mission “We Stand for Excellence”.
