Murray Gamble, President of the C3 Group of Companies, has been giving back to Waterloo Region in a variety of ways for almost 40 years. He credits his parents’ commitment to community support as his inspiration, and says volunteering is the most rewarding thing he does in his life. He also jokes (or perhaps not) that he has a hard time saying no to anything, which is borne out by his deep and wide involvement throughout the region.
Gamble currently chairs the University of Waterloo’s Board of Governors, supporting one of the country’s strongest engineering education and research hubs, and also brings his extensive experience, strategic thinking skills, and industry connections to the Faculty of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council.
As a past Chair and founding member of the Board of Advisors for UWaterloo’s Master of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology (MBET) program, Gamble has mentored and advised countless student entrepreneurs, helping them refine their vision, build business plans, and make considered decisions. He continued to advise many of those students as they started and grew their businesses, often acting as an angel investor and serving on their inaugural boards. He says his goals are to prevent younger entrepreneurs from making the same mistakes he did and to inspire them to give back in turn when they become successful.
Outside of engineering and entrepreneurship, Gamble is a strong and enthusiastic supporter of the arts. He has held leadership and governance roles with the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Centre in the Square, and THEMUSEUM, and is a long-term art collector and patron. “I love the arts sector. In art, you can see something that you've never seen before. I find that creativity and that spark just inspiring,” he says.
He's also a great believer in increasing inclusion and supporting the region’s prosperity, serving on both the Waterloo Economic Development Corporation and the Immigration Partnership Council. “I'm a big believer in that we need to help people who come to this country be successful.”
Gamble says he gets more out of volunteering than he puts into it: “It's nice to see where maybe you helped an organization or an individual or a group of individuals and you made a little bit of difference in their lives. That would be the thing I feel the best about.”
