The Chief Executive Officer of one of the world’s best-known guitar brands has given a special gift to his hometown museum.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation CEO Andy Mooney has donated a specially signed Fender Stratocaster guitar to Whitburn Community Museum, which is located within the recently opened £5 million Whitburn Partnership Centre.
The iconic guitar has pride of place in a special display case in the museum, along with a wide-range of fascinating items and display boards connected to the town’s history.
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Fender CEO Andy Mooney said: “I’m truly humbled to be featured in Whitburn Museum and owe my success to the work ethic instilled in me by my parents and the teachers who inspired me at St Joseph’s and St. Mary’s.”
Mr Mooney’s career saw him leave Whitburn to pursue a profession in the United States of America with global sportswear giant Nike, where he rose to become their Chief Marketing Officer.
He left Nike to join Disney as chairman of their Consumer Products Worldwide division, where he conceptualised the Disney Princesses brand, which under his leadership was developed and grown into a billion-dollar enterprise.
The former semi-professional musician then joined Fender in 2015 and lead the development of Fender Play, a subscription-based learning app created to support people just picking up the instrument for the first time, with the pandemic helping to deliver the company’s biggest ever year of sales in 2020.
Depute Leader of West Lothian Council Kirsteen Sullivan, who met Mr. Mooney for the special guitar signing along with the council’s Museums Officer Emma Peattie, said: “I would like to thank Andy for donating this amazing, signed Fender Stratocaster to Whitburn Community Museum.
“His hugely successful career has seen him work for some of the biggest global brands on the planet and is an inspirational for anyone in West Lothian looking for a career in business.
“It was a real pleasure to meet Andy, and know he remains true to his Whitburn roots despite many decades at the top of the business world in America.”
The museum space occupies the ground floor of the new partnership building alongside the library and features artefacts from the earliest beginnings of the settlement right up to the 20th century including the miners strike, and Whitburn 's place in the history of that other icon of rock music, Levi jeans, which were made in the town until 1999.
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