SHEILA Murphy is associate general counsel at MetLife, where she heads up the Financial Products and Insurance Litigation Practice Group.  MetLife is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers in over 60 countries. 

A native of Brooklyn, Murphy is a graduate of the School of Management, State University of New York, Binghamton, and the School of Law, University of Pennsylvania.
Murphy traces her Irish roots through both her parents, to counties Cork, Donegal and Antrim.  She and her husband Michael McGrath have two teenagers, Caitlin and Connor.

“My Irish heritage means the world to me. It is so much of who I am and how I identify myself,” says Murphy.

“Being part of a culture that is full of hard work, story telling, humor, relationships, and compassion has served me well both in my life and career.  My work ethic comes from my immigrant grandparents who believed in the American dream and the success they could find the United States, even though they had to return to Ireland during the Depression to find work.

“As part of my heritage, I also learned about compassion and seeking justice and opportunity for those who cannot speak for themselves. This has influenced me greatly and is one of the reason I became involved with two charitable organizations -- CARE’s Women’s Initiative of New York which among other things focuses on empowering women in the developing world to create social change, such as access to education and health care; and Read Alliance which focuses on providing at risk elementary students with tutoring for reading.  I only hope that I do my heritage proud and pass the torch onto my children.”
 

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