James Joseph Murren (born October 5, 1961) is an American

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

. He was the chairman and CEO of

MGM Resorts International MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Pa ...

. He is a member of the

National Infrastructure Advisory Council The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) is a United States government advisory council, which advises the President of the United States on the security of information systems in banking, finance, transportation, energy, manufacturing, ...

. On March 22, 2020, Murren was appointed by Nevada Governor

Steve Sisolak Stephen F. Sisolak (born December 26, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the 30th governor of Nevada since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Clark County Commission from 2009 to 2019 and on t ...

to lead a task force to coordinate private-sector support for the government response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Early career

Murren attended Roger Ludlowe High School in Fairfield,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, where he played football and baseball and was a member of the National Honor Society. Murren received his undergraduate degree at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Connecticut, where he studied art history and urban studies and attended Cesare Barbieri Center in Rome, Italy. He joined the Wall Street firm of Cyrus J. Lawrence as a securities analyst and earned the

Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and fina ...

certification in 1991. He was elected a member of the firm's Board of Directors, becoming the youngest member ever of the company's board. During his career on Wall Street he brought about a pivotal recapitalization of

MGM Grand, Inc. MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is ...

in 1996 and served as a Managing Director and the Director of U.S. equity research for

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

At MGM

In 1998, he moved to the corporate sector, joining MGM as CFO and member of its board of directors. In 1999, he became president and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2007; he became chairman and CEO in December 2008, his 10th year at the company. Under his tenure, the company embarked upon an extremely successful decade of growth. Murren was the architect of $15 billion of acquisitions including Primadonna Resort & Casino in 1998,

Mirage Resorts Mirage Resorts (formerly Golden Nugget Companies) was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International). History Golden Nugget Companies Inc. ...

in 2000 and

Mandalay Resort Group Mandalay Resort Group (formerly Circus Circus Enterprises) was an American hotel and casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada. Its major properties included Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus, as well as half of the Monte Carlo. In ...

in 2005—acquisitions that helped transform MGM into the world's largest gaming company. He was repeatedly honored as the gaming and lodging industry's top CFO by Institutional Investor magazine. In 2008–09, Murren led an extensive reorganization of the company, resulting in over $500 million of annual savings; this, together with a $3.8 billion financing effort, kept the company from failure during the early days of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

in 2008 and 2009. During Murren's tenure, MGM joined with

Dubai World Dubai World ( ar, دبي العالمية) is an investment company that manages and supervises a portfolio of businesses and projects for the Government of Dubai across a wide range of industry segments and projects that promote Dubai as a hub ...

in the development of the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

CityCenter Aria Campus, commonly known by its former name CityCenter, is a mixed-use, urban complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is located on and contains a total of . The complex includes Aria Resort and Casino, the Vdara condo-hotel, t ...

. When CityCenter opened in December 2009, it represented the largest single private development and the largest green project ever undertaken in the nation's history and America's number one generator of new jobs during the Great Recession. Senator Harry Reid said, "The Las Vegas community may never be able to express its appreciation adequately for all that Jim has done, but his hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. ... He is a leader of his generation in job creation, green investment and philanthropy." Somer Hollingsworth, President and CEO of the Nevada Development Authority, called CityCenter "the most exciting and impactful project to open for the foreseeable future." Under Murren's leadership, MGM broke ground on May 1, 2014, on another major project in Las Vegas: a privately financed, state-of-the-art, 20,000-seat Las Vegas Arena that was developed with sports and entertainment company AEG. Murren is chair of the American Gaming Association Board of Directors, the national trade association for the commercial gaming industry, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution. In 2013, he was named executive chairman of the board of directors of the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association, a professional society for corporate responsibility practitioners. He was named by President Obama to serve on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. He was recognized as Executive of the Year by Casino Journal in 2013. During 2011, according to Forbes, Murren's total remuneration from MGM was $9.9 million, including $2 million in salary. Under Murren, MGM purchased the

San Antonio Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the ...

of the WNBA in 2017 and relocated them to Las Vegas as the

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conferenc ...

. On February 12, 2020, MGM Resorts International announced Murren resigned as Chairman and CEO.

Other interests

Over the years, he has been a pioneer in the area of corporate diversity. Among the company's management ranks, more than 38 percent are minorities and nearly 43 percent are women. During Murren's tenure as chairman & CEO, the company has continued to garner wide recognition for its leading diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as: 40 Best Companies for Diversity (''Black Enterprise Magazine''), Top 10 Companies for Latinos (''DiversityInc Magazine''), Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality (Human Rights Campaign Foundation), Top 10 Regional Companies (DiversityInc), Top 100 Companies for MBA Students (Universum Global), and Top Corporation for Women's Business Enterprises (Women's Business Enterprise National Council). FORTUNE Magazine has named MGM Resorts one of the World's Most Admired Companies. Corporate Responsibility (CR) Magazine, a publication which recognizes America's most socially responsible chief executives, named Murren a 2013 Responsible CEO of the Year Award winner. The annual awards are presented to CEOs across industries that clearly exceed standards in the areas of employee relations, environmental impact, human rights, philanthropy, and corporate responsibility practices. In 2015, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Leader Award by the University of Massachusetts' Isenberg School of Management.https://www.umass.edu/events/hospitality-tourism-management-annual-awards He and his wife co-founded the

Nevada Cancer Institute Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI), founded in 2002, was the official cancer institute for the state of Nevada from 2003 to 2013, located in Summerlin, Nevada. The Institute became part of UC San Diego Health in February, 2012. A non-profit organiza ...

and actively support Trinity College,

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, the Fisher House Foundation for veterans and military families, and other non-profit organizations. He currently serves as an executive in residence at Johns Hopkins University's

Carey Business School The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School (also Carey Business School or simply Carey) is the graduate business school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It was established in 2007 and offers full-t ...

. He and his wife Heather Murren founded the Murren Family Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to veterans and education.

References

External links

Education on the mind of MGM Resorts chief Jim Murren - Las Vegas Sun, January 18, 2011

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murren, James 1961 births Living people American casino industry businesspeople American chairpersons of corporations American chief executives of travel and tourism industry companies American corporate directors Businesspeople from Bridgeport, Connecticut CFA charterholders Deutsche Bank people MGM Resorts International People from the Las Vegas Valley Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni