Colin’s career started at sea with BP Shipping where he rapidly progressed through the ranks to Chief Officer and Fleet Training Officer with Seacat containers, before returning ashore and joining Clyde Marine Training in 2004.
He became MD of the company in 2008 and formed part of a successful MBO in the same year. Under his leadership the company expanded rapidly, incorporating a number of new business areas and services before being sold in 2016 to Northern Marine Group part of Stena AB..
He stayed on as director for a further four years and continued to generate additional business opportunities including forming Clyde Training Solutions, the Offshore, Marine and Renewables training division.
Colin is a Fellow of IMarEST, a Younger Brother of Trinity House and spent nine years on the board of the City of Glasgow College where he helped oversee its merger and £224M new campus build.
He is also a founding director of the Scottish Maritime Cluster, currently chair of the International Association of Maritime Institutions and is a board member of the Merchant Navy Training Board (MNTB). Most recently Colin was appointed as a commissioner on the Maritime Skills Commission.
His overall responsibility at SMT will include implementing the companies planned expansion and three-year development plan, with specific focus on organic growth of the company’s existing business streams, planned expansion into new markets and of course the continued development of SMT’s blended learning innovation.
“As a former competitor to our business, I have admired Colin’s disruptive approach and the way he leads from the front. He brings a great mix of leadership, inspiration, operational experience and passion for customer care. Having Colin lead the group’s traditional businesses will allow me to focus on our rapidly growing digital business streams, bringing new technology into training and new innovations in the training delivery of the future, while having confidence that the foundations of the business are in his very capable hands,” said Martin White, SMT’s CEO.
“It is important that, post-COVID, seafarers have the right skills to offer ship owners and managers. At SMT our aim is to get them back into the training cycle to refresh and update their skills by offering the right blend of online and practical learning,” he continued.
Talking about his appointment Colin McMurray said, ““I am really looking forward to leading the team at SMT to the next level, building on the solid foundation and momentum already achieved by the team. The next phase will focus on the divisional expansion, widening the delivery methods of our courses so we remain flexible in our approach and can cater to differing cultures, abilities and ranks.”
“Both myself and Martin share a passion for maritime education and training to help build and develop seafarers’ careers. We both have a unique blend of skills which are very complementary and which will help take Stream Marine into a unique position as a market leader and distributor, building on the success already achieved by the team at SMT and moving the business from a national to an international approach” he added.