William F. Murdy
Vice Chair
Chairman Thayer Leader Development Group & Thayer Hotel
William F. (Bill) Murdy stepped down in 2014 as Chairman of Comfort Systems USA (Houston) (NYSE: FIX) a $1.5 billion company providing heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) installation and services in the commercial/industrial/institutional sector countrywide. Comfort Systems operates from over 80 locations employing more than 7,000 people.
Until January 1, 2012 he was both Chairman and CEO of Comfort having joined the company in 2000 in those positions. Before joining Comfort he was President and Chief Executive Officer of ClubQuarters (New York City), a privately owned, rapidly growing chain of membership hotels catering to corporate travelers to major cities in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to Club Quarters he was Chairman, President, CEO and Co-Founder of LandCare USA, Inc. (Houston) (NYSE: GRW). LandCare grew to be the country’s largest commercial landscape and tree services company before merging with ServiceMaster (NYSE:SVM) in 1999. Preceding LandCare, Mr. Murdy was President and Chief Executive Officer for 8 years of General Investment and Development (Boston), a large, privately held, diversified real estate investment, development and operating company, and before that, from 1981 to 1989, Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of the Morgan Stanley Venture Capital Fund and President of its associated management company (New York City). From 1974 to 1981 he served in a number of positions including chief operating officer of Pacific Resources (Honolulu) (NYSE: PRI), a rapidly growing $1 billion company in the oil refining and gas utility sector.
He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (1970) and West Point (1964). He served in the United States Army from 1964 to 1974, including one year in the Dominican Republic (82nd Airborne) and two years in Viet Nam (173rd Airborne Brigade). He was awarded three Bronze Stars, four Air Medals and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. After three years teaching (Economics) at West Point, he left the active Army as a Major and served in the US Army Reserve.
Currently, he is the lead director on the Board of Directors of LSB Industries (NYSE: LXU). He is also Chair of the Compensation Committee.He serves on the Board of Directors and the Audit and Governance Committees of Vectrus (NYSE: VEC). He has previously served on the Boards of UIL (NYSA: UIL now AGR) and Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ: KALU).
He is a Founder and former Chairman of Warrior Gateway (connecting Veterans with services), a Vice Chairman and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Business Executives for National Security and a member of the Board of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Murdy is a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army, a former member of the Board of Visitors for West Point, an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of the West Point Association of Graduates and a principal owner and Chairman of the Hotel Thayer and the Thayer Leader Development Group. In 2015 he was designated a Distinguished Graduate of West Point
He is married with two grown children and resides with his wife of 50 years, Mary Benbow Murdy, in New Canaan, Connecticut.