John D. Murphy is the Chief Operating Officer (COO). He has overall responsibility for day-to-day mission execution units responsible for delivering NWS weather, water, climate, and space weather products, services, and information as well as the budgetary planning for 11 National Service Programs. Prior to becoming the COO, Mr Murphy was the Director of the Office of Science and Technology (OST) where he had overall responsibility for science and technology infusion into the NWS including science and engineering planning, acquisition and refresh of critical technologies, and development of scientific techniques. He joined NWS in 2011 as Chief, Programs and Plans Division. There he managed the execution of program management and development of programs while accessing state-of-the-art science and technology options.

Mr. Murphy came to the NWS after serving more than 29 years with the United States Air Force as a career meteorologist. He topped off his military weather career while serving as Commander of the Air Force Weather Agency where he managed more than 1,400 agency personnel located at 18 geographically-separated units worldwide. Just prior to joining NWS, Mr. Murphy served as the Deputy Foreign Policy Advisor to United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). He was the primary interlocutor between the command, the U.S. State Department, and foreign governments on issues related to deterrence, space, and cyberspace.

Mr. Murphy has held management and senior level executive positions at all echelons of the U.S. Air Force weather community in addition to positions held in the NWS. He served as Acting U.S. Air Force Director of Weather and was responsible for the entire career field prior to deploying to Southwest Asia where he served as the Combined Air and Space Operations Center Chief of Staff. He has a proven record of success developing and executing advanced programs, and in bringing new science to operations. He earned acquisition certifications in Program Management and Information Technologies while serving as Program Manager for the $90 million Cloud Depiction and Forecasting System II program.

Mr. Murphy received a Master of Science degree in meteorology from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College. He graduated from Lyndon State College in Vermont with Bachelor’s degrees in meteorology and mathematics, and an Associate’s degree in physics.

Mr. Murphy and his wife Susan are natives of New Jersey; they have two adult children.

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