Murray Thom

Murray Thom is a serial entrepreneur with the Midas touch. He was Managing Director of CBS Records at 23. He founded and owned Personalised Plates in 1987 then sold it and returned to the music business, making CD's with Martin Winch and Carl Doy amongst others.

Murray's career is a success story. Murray was the Head of CBS Music, founder of Personalised Plates and now runs his own highly successful music business.

Murray Thom left school at 15 with no qualifications. By the age of 23 he was became Managing Director of CBS Records at 23, the youngest Managing Director of that group in the world. With a strong desire to be self-employed he left the corporate life 23 years ago to “have a go” on his own. He founded and owned Personalised Plates in 1987 as a result of winning a government tender to act as the Ministry of Transport’s exclusive marketing agent to introduce personalised number plates into New Zealand. Personalised Plates Ltd enjoyed great success and at its height, during Murray’s ownership, had a turnover of $30 million annually and a staff of 60. In 1997 he sold that company to pursue his real passion, the music business.

He now manages his own boutique record company, Thom Music, producing many best selling albums including Carl Doy’s Piano by Candlelight, Martin Winch’s Espresso Guitar, and albums by Margaret Urlich, Rob Guest and Dave Dobbyn. The company has enjoyed great success and two of his recent productions: ‘Together’ and ‘Miracle’ have both featured on the Oprah Winfrey show. The 'Together' 10 CD Collection was named as Oprah’s "Favorite Thing of the Year” and another show featured ‘Miracle’, a collaboration with Celine Dion and photographer Anne Geddes. His most recent creation, The Great New Zealand Songbook includes two CD’s featuring selections of the best New Zealand music of the Last Century and This Century. Forty of New Zealand’s favourite recording artists including Split Enz, Dave Dobbyn, Neil Finn, Opshop, Bic Runga, Brooke Fraser and many more have contributed handwritten lyrics, photos and memorabilia, in their own double page spreads. The iconic cover art of ‘Charlie, The Four Square Man’ holding a guitar is an original work by acclaimed New Zealand artist Dick Frizzell and was commissioned specifically for this release.

Murray’s other passion is sailing. His father taught him to sail when he was 7 and at 12 he was the youngest winner of the Tanner Cup for P class boats. Both he and his older brother Barry went on to win national titles sailing Lasers and Finns. Murray has also represented New Zealand in Lasers, Finns and Solings and represented New Zealand at the pre-Olympic regatta in Russia in 1979. When he began work, he found the values of competitive sport invaluable. In 2005 he won the World Laser Masters championship in Brazil.

Murray Thom has featured on Documentary New Zealand’s “the Midas Touch”. He made ‘NZ Business’ magazine’s Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Decade, and featured in ‘Management’ magazine’s cover story on Leadership.

Presentations:

Topics:
• Keynote - "Giving a Performance Worthy of a Standing Ovation".
• Motivation

Testimonials:

“Thom is extremely persistent. He hangs on long after most people would abandon a project” Air NZ – Inflight Magazine

“Murray Thom: Cheerleader, a man of contagious enthusiasm, with ideas and self-made opportunities you wish you’d thought of … and he’s through the door while you’re still trying to park.” Weekend Magazine

“Personalised Plates is one of the unique ones. There were many skeptics and you have clearly made a success of it.” Rt Hon. Jim Bolger

“We recently invited Murray Thom to present at an internal event for 250 of our people leaders, in our feedback we asked people to rate the 7 sessions throughout the day, and Murray came out top as the most popular. He was briefed to make the content relevant, lively, engaging – and to stick to a tight timescale, all of which were delivered in spades. Definitely a highlight of the event. “Kate Joyce Gen-I

Murray Thom spoke to over 400 of our team at our recent conference. There was hardly any movement in the room as Murray held us captivated and entranced. Murray exudes energy and a zest for life that is contagious.
Without doubt, rated as our top speaker across the 3 days, Murray left each person with a memorable and compelling desire to achieve more, live life to its fullest, and never give up. Charming and funny, Murray tells his story with a genuine desire to share his inspiration and help others achieve success. He tailored his experiences and insights to match the audience which was greatly appreciated and impactful. We've been so pleased with the response to Murray that we've invited him to speak to more of our team Rebecca Smith, BNZ