Dr. Steven Murphy has served as our Board Chair from the beginning of TALENT’s launch in 2020. Talent was created as an avenue to explore the future of learning. Dr. Murphy wanted an outlet that could be more responsive and adaptive to changing employer needs, and address reskilling and upskilling throughout the lifecycle, something universities have addressed with very mixed success. He has been the driver behind enhancing the professional expertise on the Talent Board and the dedication toward national and international success.

Dr. Murphy joined Ontario Tech University as its fourth President and Vice‐Chancellor on March 1, 2018 and was reappointed for another term beginning July 1, 2023. He envisions the university as an active space to reinvent learning while championing diversity in all of its forms. He believes experiential and co‐operative learning opportunities are fundamental training for successful careers. Dr. Murphy strives to reimagine higher learning as an ongoing pursuit that will fuel Canada’s knowledge economy. He encourages students to embrace a collaborative approach that champions diversity and strives to make society and our planet a better place.

Into his second term as President, Ontario Tech has strengthened its research capacity through further academic collaborations with industry, community and government partners; relationships that showcase the university’s leadership as a critical hub of expertise anchoring the eastern Greater Toronto Area. One example, Ontario Tech’s recently launched Brilliant Energy Institute, positions the university as a national leader in interdisciplinary clean energy, environmental sustainability, and climate-change research.

Dr. Murphy is renowned for his organizational and human behaviour expertise across business and industry. Even more notably, his dedication to equity, diversity and inclusiveness underscores every facet of how he lives his life. Beyond the lens of race and gender, he believes firmly in the diversity of thought and ideas that underpin universities.

Dr. Murphy’s vision for positive change influenced Ontario Tech’s Strategic Research Plan, supported the creation of the Integrated Academic Research Plan, the establishment of the President’s Equity Taskforce, and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to Indigenous Reconciliation. Dr. Murphy also rapidly guided the university’s evolution toward a distinct and bold new identity, a process that included renaming the university, and refreshing the brand and accompanying university and spirit logos.

He earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Human Resource Management, a Master in Management Studies (with Distinction) in the Management of Technology and completed his Doctorate in Management, Organizational Behaviour, at Carleton University.

Dr. Murphy currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Research Council of Canada; as the co‐Chair of eCampus Ontario; as Chair of Council of Ontario Universities Audit and Budget Committee; as Chair of Ontario University Athletics; as a Director of U Sports; and as a member of the Universities Canada Education Committee.