Evelyn Murphy is President of The WAGE Project, Inc., a national organization to end wage discrimination against working women, and author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It, published by Simon & Schuster in October 2005. She is Chair of the Board of Directors of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company and a Director of Citizens Energy Corporation.
Evelyn Murphy earned a BA from Duke University in mathematics; a MA in economics from Columbia University; and a PhD in economics from Duke University.
In the late 1970s, she served as Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs with responsibility for the state’s environmental policy and line management of 5,000 employees. Her leadership in opposing offshore oil and gas exploration in the fishing grounds of the Georges Bank and initiating state heritage parks earned her national recognition. After an unsuccessful campaign for Lt Governor in 1982, she was appointed the state’s Secretary of Economic Affairs from 1983-1985, with responsibility for the state’s economic policies including her initiative to develop businesses engaged in biotechnology, computer technology, marine sciences, polymers, and photovoltaics; and overseeing unemployment compensation and retraining programs.
In 1986, Evelyn Murphy was elected Lt. Governor and became the first woman in the state’s 200 year history to hold constitutional office. Prior to that, despite the state’s progressive image, no woman had ever been elected Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, or US Senator in Massachusetts.
After campaigning for Governor in 1990, Evelyn Murphy became Managing Director of Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer, a New England law firm. While managing the law firm, she became a corporate director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts; and Shawmut National Banks of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, Fleet National Bank, Fleet Mortgage Company, and Fleet Credit Card Corporation. Blue Cross recruited her to the position of Executive Vice President to manage all federal and state, media and civic relations. While Executive Vice President, she founded and became President of the health insurer’s HealthCare Policy Institute.
In her civic role, she is Honorary Chair of the Lost Coin Women’s Fund, Inc., and on the Advisory Board of Rosie’s Place, a homeless women’s shelter; the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective; the Center for Women and Work at UMass Lowell; the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, UMass Boston.
Dr. Murphy is a member of the International Women’s Forum and the Boston Club; for eight years, she co-chaired the annual fundraiser for Rosie’s Place. She is the recipient of 11 honorary degrees and over one hundred national, state, and local awards.
In her spare time, she has run the Boston Marathon many times and can be seen in the bleachers of Fenway Park cheering for the Boston Red Sox.
