Man in the Middle   

When Phil Murphy ascended the stage at his victory party in November of 2017, it wasn’t just a sprint, but more of a flying leap, perhaps a throwback to his days as a musical theater performer at Harvard University.

But there was something more in the dance move.

Phil Murphy’s story is one of boundless energy, ever since he took a job washing dishes to earn extra money as a high school student in Boston. His parents were “middle-class on a good day” by his own retelling, but they wanted their children to be educated, and all the Murphy children got college degrees. In Phil’s case, it was an economics degree from Harvard and then a master’s degree from Wharton, after which he interned at Goldman Sachs, where he would make his career for the next two decades.

Even back then, he gained a name for his deal-making skills, which he attributed to his willingness to work with people. “Two people may not get along,” he explained, “they don’t like each other and can’t work together. But their mutual dislike is their problem and I don’t let it become mine. I’ll be the man in the middle and the three of us can work something out that everyone is happy with.”