Former Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray served for over 20 years in the Massachusetts Senate.  During her tenure Murray emphasized the importance of our health care industry, working on the original health care reform legislation and authoring three additional health care bills focused on cost containment, quality and access to care.  During her tenure as President of the Massachusetts Senate, Murray made international economic development a priority, seeking out partnerships and opportunities for Massachusetts companies and organizations to expand their reach.  Seeing the importance of international economic development to the Massachusetts economy, Murray founded MassIgnite following her departure from the Massachusetts Senate.

Murray’s success in these international collaboration efforts has afforded her the opportunity to speak about economic development around the world. Murray has earned numerous honorary degrees including: Master’s Degrees from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Westfield State University; Juris Doctorates from Suffolk University of School Law and New England School of Law and an honorary Doctorate in Health from the University of Plymouth (UK). She has also been awarded the medal of St. Olga from the Pskov region of Russia, and, most recently, the 2014 Tip O’Neill Diaspora Award presented to her by Irish President Michael Higgins.