Mike Murray Career

Chief Information Officer

Solo Brands: April 2024 to Present

Leading the information technology teams at Solo Brands (Solo Stove, ISLE, Oru Kayak, Chubbies, IcyBreeze).

Sr. Director of Technology

The Container Store: October 2019 to September 2021

Reporting to CIO – Responsible for all of Technology Infrastructure, IT Governance, IT Support, Assets, ITSM, and PMO.  Supporting 95 US based big box retail stores.

Global Head of Infrastructure

WEIR

The Weir Group, PLC: August 2018 to September 2019

Reporting to CIO – Responsible for all of IT Infrastructure supporting 32 data centers worldwide.

Vice President, Technology

Pier 1 Imports: October 2016 to August 2018

Reporting to CIO – Responsible for two data centers, data center mechanical systems, data center operations, NOC, IT Service Desk, End-User Computing environment spanning over 1000 locations and 10,000+ clients, IT depot services, store technology, ITSM systems, server systems, databases, storage and data networks.

Director, Information Technology

Pier 1 Imports: June 2015 to October 2016

Reporting to CIO – Responsible for two data centers, data center mechanical systems, data center operations, NOC, IT Service Desk, End-User Computing environment spanning over 1000 locations and 10,000+ clients, IT depot services, store technology, and ITSM systems.

Director, Technology Strategy & User Experience

Pier 1 Imports: January 2011 to June 2015

Team created by CEO to lead business strategy and innovation in support of our omni-channel initiatives.  Responsible for selecting and implementing ecommerce, order management, store pickup, mobile systems strategy, and payment platforms.  Designed, developed, and deployed hardware and software for store kiosks and tablets.  Responsible for being the company Technology Evangelist delivering a quarterly presentation to the executive team on the state of retail technology, trends, and innovations.  Responsible for oversight of User Experience initiatives for internal and customer facing applications (ecommerce).

Director, Infrastructure Technology

Pier 1 Imports: February 2000 to January 2011

Reporting to CIO – Responsible for multiple datacenters (including mechanicals), 1050+ retail store network (Cisco), all server system platforms (Windows, AIX, Linux, IBM mainframe), storage systems (EMC, HP), IT disaster recovery planning and execution.  Responsible planning and managing multi-million dollar infrastructure capitol and expense budgets.

Lead, Network & Server Systems

Corporate Express/Staples: July 1997 to January 2000

Responsible for six location LAN/WAN and small datacenters across 5 states operating on a T1 and Frame Relay network.  Based on Nortel switches, Cisco routers, and Compaq servers running Microsoft Windows.

Server Technical Support

AST Computer: January 1995 to July 1997

AST Bravo Desktop and Manhattan Server Support.

Help Desk Supervisor

Mouser Electronics: June 1990 to January 1995


Entrepreneurial History

Time Rift Arcade, LLC

March 2023 to Present

President and founder of the Time Rift Arcade. A family owned and operated arcade based in Bedford, TX.

The Geek Pub

November 2012 to Present

An online YouTube TV Show and website dedicated to building projects and teaching others how to do it themselves. The Geek Pub has grown my leaps and bounds over the last few years and is fully self-supporting.

Murray McMurray, LLC.

January 2013 to Present

A real estate investment company founded by my wife and me, purchasing residential properties, rehabbing them, and leasing them to tenants.

North Star Online (NSOL)

January 1995 to November 1995

A dial-up ISP serving customers in Dallas/Fort Worth. Grew it from zero to several hundred paying monthly subscribers, before selling it to Internet America.