Jean-Marc Murre

Wed, Jul 29th 2020 at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Career talk on 29 July

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President Hamish Tait opened the latest Zoom meeting by reading letters of thanks from Maggies (Fife) and CHAS for donations that had been funded from the money members would normally be spending on the Club’s weekly lunch. Over £5000 had been raised by this means for charitable giving.

The day’s speaker, Club member Jean-Marc Murré, was born in Algeria but his family had to give up their vineyards and relocate to mainland France after independence in 1962. So began a lifetime of travel. His parents soon moved again, to Majorca, where Jean-Marc worked for a shipping firm before joining a series of different companies involved in tourism and hospitality. This entailed a lot of international travel, which could be planned such that he could enjoy summer all year round!

A position with the American company, Betchel, took Jean-Marc and his Scottish wife to Saudi Arabia and the brand-new city of Jubail on the Arabian Gulf coast. That included public relations, which sometimes meant treading a tactful political path. He then spent 23 years working for Disney, including a period based in Paris during the development of Euro Disney followed by a role in international sales and marketing. It was company policy that all new employees should gain first-hand experience of different operations - such as car park attendant, waiter and stable boy – and as a costumed character at DisneyWorld. Twenty minutes as Goofy was enough to give Jean-Marc an insight into the company’s client base!

President Hamish had donned a Disney mask to introduce the speaker and the vote of thanks, from Alan Macdonald, included some words in French.Jean-Marc may deliver his talk in French.