After 43 years of service, Morgan Murphy Media‘s President and Chief Executive Officer will soon retire from her day-to-day leadership position. Succeeding her is a junior member of the Burns family, which keeps its leadership of the company since 1890 moving ahead into the future.
Elizabeth Murphy Burns will be elevated to Chair of the company’s Board of Directors.
This sees MMM Executive VP/Chief Operating Officer Brian Burns in line as the company’s next President/CEO.
“The time is right for me to pass this torch to the next generation,” Murphy Burns said. “We might be small, but we are mighty, and with the help of all the wonderful people I’ve worked with over the years, I’m immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
“Liz” Murphy Burns was born into a family of media pioneers and expanded on that tradition upon taking over the family-run company with her brother, John Murphy, in 1982. Under her stewardship, Morgan Murphy Media has been recognized for TV stations have been early adopters in every technology, including color television, stereo broadcasting, satellite newsgathering, the digital broadcasting transition and the advent of local news on the internet and through mobile applications.
She is the first woman elected to the CBS affiliates advisory board, one of the first women elected to the NAB Board of Directors, and played a key role in MMM’s 2003 purchase of WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wisc., and the 2017 purchase of KOAM-TV in Joplin, Mo.-Pittsburg, Ks. and KAVU-TV in Victoria, Tex., from Saga Communications.
Murphy Burns would also play an instrumental role in the 2023 purchase of WBKB-TV in Alpena, Mich., and WBUP-TV in Marquette, Mich., by MMM.
“I see so much promise for the future of our company if we remain committed to principles of community service and localism,” Murphy Burns said. “It’s what we do.”
Meanwhile, Brian Burns becomes the fifth CEO in the company’s 135-year history.
His first assignment for the company came at the age of 12, and his first fulltime role with Morgan Murphy Media as a newscast director in 1998, eventually moving into leadership and executive roles with increasing responsibility around new media technologies. In 2008, he was elevated to VP/COO.
“Liz’s legendary leadership of this company won’t soon be matched,” Brian Burns said. “Her standard of professionalism, innovation, community service and commitment to the hundreds of people working in our company is something I think about every day.”
Brian Burns serves as Vice Chair for the Independent Television Group (ITG) and has previously been a board member of both the CBS Affiliate Board and the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB). He is also a graduate of the NAB Broadcast Leadership Training program – a program Liz Murphy Burns was instrumental in getting off the ground in 2000 to help train future broadcast station owners. It continues to this day.
Elizabeth Murphy Burns’ niece, Kate Murphy Doty, is a senior executive leading human resources at Morgan Murphy Media.
