Biography
The Honorable Patrick J. Murphy is America's first Iraq War veteran elected to the U.S. Congress and later served as the 32nd Under Secretary of the Army until January 2017. Secretary Murphy is currently the Distinguished Chair of Innovation at the United States Military Academy at West Point, an ambassador for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes initiative, a Senior Fellow at the Association of the U.S. Army, a media executive and on-air talent, and the Executive Chairman of The Workshop Mercantile, a professional education platform.
As the Acting Secretary and Under Secretary, he led the management and operation of the Army-a Fortune 10-sized organization as the Nation's second largest employer of over $1.3 million with a budget of $148 billion. His focus on dynamic business operations and transforming a more innovative and responsive workforce led to an expansion of the Soldier for Life initiative, which saved $340M in FY16, and reaching recruitment goals for the first time in five years with over 130K millennials hired. Secretary Murphy also facilitated unprecedented public-private partnerships generating over $250M in savings, from Major League Baseball to 20th Century Fox. His aggressive and authentic use of social media to tell the Army story helped lead to an 18% growth across all platforms.
As a media executive he founded a production company, Taking the Hill, which creates television film programming , films and digital content.. His current projects include Warriors in Motion (Epix, 2018), Almost Sunrise (PBS, 2017), Thank You For Your Service (Dreamworks/Universal Films, 2017), and a profile in When Trains Collide (PBS, 2017). Previously, Patrick was host and executive producer for Taking The Hill (2011-2015), and The Triumph Games (CBS Sports, 2015-2016). He authored the book Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress, (Henry Holt, 2008) and has been profiled in Strange History of Don't Ask Don't Tell (HBO, 2012), Taking The Hill (Discovery, 2007), and Patrick Murphy: Born To Lead (PBS, 2004).
The nation's youngest Democratic U.S. congressman from 2007 to 2011, serving the Eighth Congressional District of Pennsylvania, Congressman Murphy served on the Armed Services, Select Intelligence, and Appropriations committees responsible for the $3.4 trillion budget. He authored and co-authored several Veterans initiatives including the 21st Century GI Bill, the Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and Hire Our Heroes legislation. After joining the Army at nineteen, he graduated from the Airborne and Air Assault courses, and served in the U .S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps as a criminal prosecutor and as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Following 9/11, he immediately volunteered and served two overseas deployments - Tuzla, Bosnia (2002) and Baghdad, Iraq (2003-2004). While serving in Iraq as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, he led a Brigade Operational Law Team (BOLT) and earned a Bronze Star for his service.
At age 27, Captain Murphy was the youngest professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point teaching constitutional law. He has also taught at the University of Chicago and has lectured at Harvard, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy. He is a graduate of King's College Army ROTC Program and the Widener University Commonwealth School of Law, where he currently serves as a Trustee. He and his wife Jenni have two young children, Maggie and Jack, and reside in Pennsylvania.
