Walter D. Murren |
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Vice President, Operations Europe
As vice president, Operations (Europe), Walter D. Murren provides operational oversight, financial guidance and strategic management of all USO centers in Europe, and develops and implements standards of excellence to ensure consistency and quality with respect to the programs and services that are provided in the name of the USO. The Berwick, Pa. native assumed this position in 2006 after more than six years as director of USO Kaiserslautern, Germany.
During his tenure in Kaiserslautern, Murren completely reorganized USO operations, and built a quality staff of dedicated professionals that consistently ensured proactive support of the USO throughout the community. He was especially instrumental in improving USO operations at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany; supporting troop deployments and redeployments from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, “Purple Ramp;” and embedding a USO within the 435th Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility on Ramstein to better support the wounded of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Murren culminated his assignment in Kaiserslautern by expanding USO capabilities at Ramstein’s Air Base Passenger Terminal to properly care for a three-fold increase in the number of passengers, often more than 30,000 per month, transiting this new “Gateway to Europe” as a result of the closure of Rhein-Main Air Base in October 2005.
Murren entered the U.S. Army as an enlisted Military Police soldier in 1972. Four years later, he left active duty as a Sergeant to pursue a college degree. He attended and graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in arts and science in German and Earth Sciences. During this time, Murren was enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. Upon graduation, he was designated a Distinguished Military Graduate and Commissioned in the Regular Army as a Military Police Officer.
Murren’s successful military career spanned 26 years, and included a variety of command and staff positions in the 3rd Infantry Division, Headquarters U.S. Army Forces Command, and the 14th Military Police Brigade. His final duty assignment was as the Inspector General, 21st Theater Army Area Command, in Kaiserslautern.
His military education includes attendance at Military Police Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Airborne training at Fort Benning, Ga.; completion of the U.S. Army’s Command and Staff Officer’s Course (CAS3) and the Inspector General Course. Murren is a 1991 graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. During his resident status at CGSC, Murren went on to obtain a master’s degree in administration, specializing in business, from Central Michigan University.