I highly respect Mark as a leader and mentor. His thoughtful and holistic approach in developing a business while analyzing all financial and intangible aspects, including vision, the team and the audience has been in some respects, the equivalent to obtaining an MBA on the job while working for him. Now, a business owner myself, I still refer back to how Mark would approach an opportunity, shortfall or dilemma and feel the confidence that I’ve made the right business decision.

– Belinda Martinez-Canez, Managing Partner at Cafecito, LLC

I had the pleasure of working with Mark Murphy for several years during his leadership of Kyocera-Tycom. During that time, I learned a great deal from his calm and respectful management style. Mr. Murphy is a person who actively demonstrates the ideals of service to others with integrity, sincerity and a demand for excellence. Mr. Murphy is adaptable and has a unique ability to adjust his leadership style to the method required. More importantly, he understands when to engage his significant leadership skills as well as the value of encouraging individual associates to grow through direct learning experiences. Mr. Murphy is approachable and intuitive with a wealth of experience to draw upon. I look forward to utilizing Mr. Murphy’s expertise in my own company as we thrive in the emerging green energy sector.

– Matthew J. Houser, Senior VP, OceanMotion International

I worked with Mark at Kyocera Tycom for 10 years; he was my direct leader for 6 of these years. Mark demonstrated the most effective leadership style I have experienced in my career: i) he set a clear strategy, ii) he ensured that I both understood the strategy, and how my goals fit into the strategy, and iii) he held me accountable for my goals. He was a very accessible leader, and helped me overcome obstacles in my path to achieving my goals. Mark consistently expressed and demonstrated his values of business transparency and authentic relationships; he held me accountable to these values as well. He created many opportunities for me to learn new skills, especially in the area of personal leadership. I highly value the leadership Mark provided to me, and today often catch myself thinking “How would Mark handle this situation?” The answer is usually: i) he would be authentic, even if it meant having a tough but necessary conversation, ii) he would always be respectful, and focus on the issue not the person, and iii) he would make sure the resolution was consistent with the overall strategy. Mark helped me develop my business relationship skills and to become a better leader.

– Cheryl Brayman, Director of Commercial Sales, Ceradyne Inc.

I was a VP of Finance and Administration who reported to Mark for the 6 years we worked together in the dynamic and competitive electronics industry, and his leadership inspired me. Mark’s strength of character could always be relied upon to do the right thing, even if it meant making a tough call. He was relentless about establishing clarity of purpose through deep inquiry and resolute focus. He connected with all levels in a respectful dialogue that left others feeling heard and valued for their contribution. Mark understands and can articulate complex issues clearly, is holistic and pragmatic in his business approach, and has a very integrated respect for both people and process. Mark is a highly capable business leader whom I would recommend without reservation.

– Al Chan, Retired

Integrity: The quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards; the state of convergence between principles and actions. If I were asked to use one word to describe Mark Murphy, that word is Integrity. I met Mark in 1989 when I joined a start-up company of which he was COO. We worked together for 11 years building two businesses and in all that time, despite immense business pressures, impossible timelines, urgency of organizational development, chronic resource constraints, demanding stakeholders and temptingly easier paths to follow, he never wavered from the principled beliefs that consistently guided his actions. Mark is completely committed to doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time – for the right reasons. As a business leader, Mark has earned the respect of his business partners through his laser-like focus cutting through the distorting minutiae to identify the core issue, working with his team to align actions and responsibilities and then getting out of the way and allowing them to execute, while still ensuring that he was aware and informed of key developments. Capable of drilling down to the necessary detail across all business functions, although not a micro-manager, Mark’s focus on data, thoughtful analysis and rigorous execution ensured that those who worked with him were equally well prepared. Mark’s 30 years of professional achievements and accolades speak for themselves. What sets Mark apart from those of equal business acumen is his character. He is forthright, engaging, humorous and humane. Passionately committed to business success, he is equally committed to achievement and development of the team and the individuals. His quest for excellence includes the equal importance of results, process and people. Although our professional careers paths separated 13 years ago, and I have moved into increasingly complex roles in successively larger organizations and am currently Japan CIO for one of the world’s largest companies, the lessons of human engagement, dedication to excellence and professional achievement that I learned while working with and for Mark Murphy established a benchmark. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to gain the right experiences, at the right time – with the right person.

– Valerie Elliott-Chen, Chief Information Officer, Siemens Japan

Mark possesses a rare combination of compassion, clarity and deep commitment to results that make him one of the most insightful and effective leaders I have worked with over the years. His wealth of experience as a CFO to CEO and unbridled dedication to excellence provide Mark with a unique ability to quickly identify key challenges and gaps holding an organization back and to engage the leadership in driving the necessary change. At PacMin, Mark’s ability to lead breakthrough conversations and develop clear measurable goals within our entire leadership team has generated a level of alignment towards a shared vision that has been quite impressive in a very short period of time.

– Dan Ouweleen, President, PacMin Inc.

For a number of years, our operations produced mediocre margins and our team was becoming frustrated with our numerous initiatives that didn’t seem to change the game. We hired Mark to take a look at what was missing and get his “hands dirty” alongside the leadership team as we sought robust and sustainable profitability. Articulate, highly focused and result driven, Mark has made a significant difference within a short period at PacMin. While he has a strong background in operations, accounting and finance, he also is a master of communication and motivation. I have never met anyone with such a command of the nuts and bolts of a business who also is so skilled in running meetings and having no-nonsense, cut- to-the-chase (fierce) conversations with our team. The leadership team has embraced Mark in record time and they are now able to produce better results. Our margins have increased and I am seeing an exciting new level of collaboration and drive. I couldn’t be happier.

– Fred Ouweleen, Jr., PacMin, Inc.

Mark and I were in the same Vistage CEO Peer Group for approximately three years. Based on that experience, I knew that Mark had worked through some very tough issues involving personal conflicts among his executive management team. I also knew Mark to be an extremely insightful person and a deliberate thinker. Based on this, we hired Mark to facilitate our off-site management team meeting with the goal of resolving past upsets that were preventing us from creating a shared vision for the future. Mark approached the assignment with the laser focus, discipline and organization that I had anticipated. He literally spent hours on the phone in advance of our meeting talking with the key players to prepare himself and them for the meeting. This led to an unprecedented willingness on the part of the key players to be vulnerable and to listen newly to the perspective of others in ways that they had not been able to in the past. As a result, they were able to forgive each other and make some courageous declarations regarding how they intended to work together in the future. The result has been nothing short of amazing. Ever since that meeting, the drama, triangulation and bad habits that kept us from focusing on the singular task of growing the company have been completely eliminated. We are interacting in ways I never dreamed possible. Mark’s skills and insight were invaluable in enabling us to achieve a successful outcome.

– Brad, Principal

JRMA has used professional facilitators for over 10 years to lead our executive team strategic meetings. We used Mark Murphy for the first time to facilitate our most recent off site meeting and were most impressed with his ability to drive powerful conversations around both important and sensitive topics. He kept us focused to clarify our key initiatives, directly address areas where we were stuck as a team, and rediscover our collective vision for the firm. Mark helped us accomplish in one day what had previously taken a two day meeting and created greater impact by ensuring that our hearts as well as our heads were integral parts of the conversation. I believe his intense preparation for the meeting enabled him to channel our energies in the right direction. Mark’s commanding capability, warm style and engaging enthusiasm make him a powerful facilitator whom we definitely plan to use for our future meetings.

– Shelley Del Crognale, CFO/COO, J.R. Miller & Associates, Inc.

Mark, I have received nothing but positive feedback about your talk. You really struck a resonant chord with our CEO members. Thank you for creating such a memorable evening for my Legatus chapter.

– Greg Marick, Program Director

Mark, thank you very much for the wonderful talk you gave to the women of WINGS. You moved and inspired us while you expanded our thinking. I cannot tell you the number of accolades I have received from our 100 members who heard you that day.

– Barbara Baldo, Speaker Program Coordinator