Blackstone Executive Champions Posse’s Next Generation of Leaders

A.J. Murphy, a senior managing editor and chief operating officer of Blackstone Private Equity, first learned about Posse in 2012 through her work with Posse Board member and then supervisor Alastair Borthwick, the current executive vice president and chief financial officer of Bank of America. Today A.J. sits on the foundation’s board of directors, having helped steward the organization’s tremendous growth over the years.

"Posse continues to scale in a thoughtful, smart way. Programs are rolled out so they can be high quality while still being high touch," she says. "When I started, we were having conversations about scaling partnerships and opening new recruitment sites. Now those sites are central to Posse’s identity."

Before joining Blackstone, A.J. served as head of markets at Standard Industries and as a partner at the technology investment firm Silver Lake. She spent the first two decades of her career in banking, holding leadership positions at Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, where she most recently served as global head of capital markets.

A 1998 graduate of Middlebury College with a joint major in political science and English literature, A.J. also serves as a trustee of her alma mater. Her leadership roles at both Middlebury and Posse give her a distinct vantage point on the role higher education can play in identifying talent, building opportunity and preparing the next generation of leaders.

"I hear the conversation from both sides," she says. "The national policy landscape can be difficult to navigate in this moment, yet organizations like Posse emerge as valuable thought partners in working through the nuance of the time. Leaders like Deborah Bial—and like Posse alumni—are more important than ever."

A.J.’s formal involvement with Posse began in 2012, when she joined the Posse New York Advisory Board. Even then, she spoke about the potential to expand Posse’s university partnerships and connect more Scholars and alumni with career opportunities, particularly in fields where first-generation college graduates have historically been underrepresented. Her subsequent service on the national board reflects a commitment that has grown alongside Posse’s reach.

A.J. brings to the board expertise spanning finance, investing, operations and institutional governance. She has also mentored and supported Scholars directly and points to initiatives like the Jeff Ubben Posse Fellows Program and the PosseNext Fellows Program as investments in new growth opportunities.

"I am glad to see Posse moving into this space to support young professionals during that hard-to-navigate time when you’re just getting started," A.J. says. "The talent is there, and these are young people who are ready to put in the work. It’s exciting."

For A.J., Posse’s impact is rooted not only in expanding access to higher education but also in recognizing young people whose leadership can transform institutions, industries and communities. It’s a quality she recognizes from her own path.

"I’ve always had an underdog mentality. As an English and poli-sci major, I didn’t have some of the traditional training my colleagues did," she says. "I see the same drive I had in my career in Posse Scholars."