The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has named Palmdale City Manager J.J. Murphy as a recipient of its annual Veterans Recognition Award, created to acknowledge high-performing veterans working in local government.
Murphy, along with Assistant City Managers Rey Arellano of Austin, Texas and James Gallup of Athens, Tennessee were ICMA’s selections for the prestigious honor.
Murphy served as a major in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, with most of his 20 years of service spent managing command and control centers in Africa, Haiti and the United States.
“I’m very humbled by this recognition,” Murphy said. “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve my country and now to serve my peers and the Palmdale community which has a large veteran population.”
According to ICMA, veterans make up less than half of one percent of the American population but are almost 10 percent of the ICMA membership.
Murphy is an ICMA Credentialed Manager and has completed the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia, the ICMA Gettysburg Leadership Institute, the Harvard Kennedy Schools’ Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program in 2013, Leadership in the 21st Century in 2017, and the Emerging Leaders Program in 2018.
Since coming to Palmdale in 2018, Murphy has used his military leadership experience to empower his staff and the community, especially during the challenging times of navigating a global pandemic and social justice issues. A servant leader who brings a collaborative approach to his role, his most recent community collaboration in the Palmdale Healing & Honor Field has been a huge success in terms of community participation, raising funds for local veterans’ groups, and positive exposure for the City.
“Despite the fears and uncertainties of our times, I encourage our team to take positive steps forward and to always look for ways to find the ‘yes’ in any situation to better the future of the region,” Murphy said.
For complete details, visit: https://icma.org/articles/article/icma-presents-veterans-recognition-awards.
About ICMA
ICMA advances professional local government management worldwide through leadership, management, innovation, and ethics. ICMA is second only to the federal government in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data focused on issues related to local government management. Through expansive partnerships with local governments, federal agencies, nonprofits, and philanthropic funders, the organization gathers information on topics such as sustainability, health care, aging communities, economic development, cybersecurity, and performance measurement and management data on a variety of local government services — all of which support related training, education, and technical assistance.
ICMA provides support, publications, data and information, peer and results-oriented assistance, and training and professional development to more than 12,000 city, town, and county experts, and other individuals and organizations throughout the world.