Early positions After college, he joined the Wall Street firm of Cyrus J. Lawrence as a securities analyst and earned the
Chartered Financial Analyst 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. in 1996 and served as a Managing Director and the Director of U.S. equity research for
Deutsche Bank.
1998-2012: Joining 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 in 2000 and
Mandalay Resort Group 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 and 2009, 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 in 2008 and 2009. During Murren's tenure, MGM joined with
Dubai World in the development of the
Las Vegas Strip's
CityCenter. 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.
2013-2026: Recent roles and MGM Murren has been chair of the
American Gaming Association Board of Directors, 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. 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 of the
WNBA in 2017 and relocated them to Las Vegas as the
Las Vegas Aces. On February 12, 2020, MGM Resorts International announced Murren resigned as chairman and CEO. ==Other interests==