ODC appoints Paul Murray as CEO to lead Middle East expansion

Global logistics company, Overseas Distribution Company (ODC), has announced the appointment of Paul Murray as the Chief Executive Officer for their Middle East expansion, effective from August 2024.

Paul will join ODC’s newly established commercial and logistics office in Dubai to oversee Middle East operations, leveraging his two decades of industry expertise. In his previous roles, he worked with Maritime & Mercantile International as the Head of Travel Retail for over 15 years. He also served in key positions at the UK’s leading companies, including Duty and Tax-Free World International, Raven Fox Publishing, and VNU Business Publications.

Welcoming Paul to the Middle East leadership team, Manuel Demaerel, Commercial Director at ODC, said, “Dubai’s location is a strategic choice, providing favourable logistics facilities and infrastructure to offer our brand partners efficient distribution and supply chain solutions across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. We are in the process of setting up the legal entity in Dubai and anticipate completion in the coming months. We look forward to a long and successful collaboration with Paul in Dubai to offer an extended route to market for our partners.”

Paul also expressed, “I’m delighted to be joining ODC at this exciting time for the company’s expansion. This will allow us to deliver a platform offering regional and localised distribution solutions to our partner brands, bringing them closer to market, reducing both lead times and reaction times to enhance speed and delivery through regional stock holding in Dubai. Our key focus will be maintaining our proven world-class speed-to-market supply chain expertise and providing turnkey solutions to connect our partners with key travel retail customers across the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region, underpinned by excellent service and quality standards.”