Biography of Martin Marmy

BIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN MARMY
Secretary General

INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT UNION (IRU)

A Swiss Citizen from the canton of Fribourg, Martin Marmy, born in 1945, obtained his diploma of Automotive Engineer with distinction in 1968 at the Bienne Engineering College, of which he was appointed Member of the College of Experts and of the Supervisory Commission in 1988.

With, amongst other things, a period in management at the headquarters of British Petroleum Co. Ltd. in London, at the beginning of his career, Martin Marmy rapidly acquired varied expertise and experience, including marketing.

On return to Switzerland, he was respectively, up to 1978, the date of his entry into the IRU:

• in Bienne: Research engineer at the Accident Prevention Centre, Bienne Engineering College,
• in Geneva: Engineer at the Technical Service of the Swiss Touring Club (TCS),
• in Zurich: Commercial engineer with BP (Switzerland) entrusted with technical service to customers.

Vice-President of the Swiss Society for the Study of Fuel (SSM), a former expert member of the Cantonal Commission on Energy, member of the Board of Directors of the International Container Bureau (BIC) in Paris, a founder and active member of the "Green Light" Association whose purpose is to defend private transport in Geneva, Martin Marmy entered the INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT UNION (IRU) with the title of engineer in charge of Technical matters.

In his multifaceted career, he has covered several fields of expertise since 1978 and in particular:

• the organisation, direction and coordination of the work of the IRU International Technical Commission, and of the Group of Experts on Combined road/rail transport, at the international level.
• the coordination of the work of the IRU Group of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods; he represented the IRU in particular on the UN Committee of Experts, in the Working Parties on the transport of dangerous goods at the ECE in Geneva and the European Union in Brussels, as well as the International Maritime Organisation 0MI/IMO in London.
• participation in the definition of IRU policy in the fields of road safety, environmental protection, energy savings, quality assurance, vehicle approval, etc.

In the course of his professional activities in the IRU, Martin Marmy became experienced in a number of fields, including political and economic negotiation, administration and management.

From 1984 to 1990, as its spokesman, he represented the IRU to the media. Maintaining relations with the representatives of the Swiss and foreign press, he organised and coordinated, amongst other things, the IRU public relations and information services.

In 1993, he was nominated Secretary General of the IRU.

Since then, he received numerous distinctions, in particular an Honorary Doctorate from the State Technical University – MADI in Moscow in 2005, and the Order of Merit – Officer’s Cross from the President of the Republic of Hungary.

Married, father of two adult children, the Secretary General has five granddaughters. Interested in sport, Martin Marmy is a balloon pilot and an avid cyclist and skier. His extra-professional interests include reading, poetry and gardening.

Photographs of Martin Marmy may be obtained on request.

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