Iona University to Present Prestigious 2026 Legacy Award to Mastercard’s Timothy Murphy
Annual Trustees Scholarship Award Gala celebrates community leaders while raising funds for student scholarships
New Rochelle & Bronxville, N.Y. – Iona University is pleased to announce it will honor Timothy Murphy, vice chair for Mastercard, at its annual Trustees Scholarship Award Gala on April 29, 2026. Murphy will be presented with the esteemed 2026 Iona Legacy Award.
This event celebrates the University’s dedication to service and scholarship by honoring distinguished community leaders who exemplify the Iona mission of transforming lives through education. The gala will take place at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
Headquartered in Purchase, N.Y., Mastercard is held in high esteem among Westchester County’s Fortune 500 companies, employing nearly 100 Iona alumni and regularly hosting students for tours, mentorship opportunities and career networking.
“We are excited to recognize Tim Murphy at this year’s gala,” said Iona President Seamus Carey, Ph.D. “In both his career and through his leadership in service to others, Tim demonstrates a deep commitment to excellence that positively shapes the world around him. We look forward to celebrating his legacy and strengthening the longstanding relationship between Iona and Mastercard.”
“I’m deeply honored to receive Iona’s 2026 Legacy Award,” Murphy said. “This recognition reflects values that have guided my career and community work: expanding opportunity, strengthening education and helping build pathways for people to thrive. I’m proud that Mastercard is contributing to Iona’s incredible efforts to open doors for students, especially first‑generation and high‑need scholars. Iona’s scholarship program changes lives, and supporting that mission is profoundly meaningful to me.”
ABOUT THE HONOREE
Murphy is vice chair for Mastercard, serving as an ambassador for the company globally and focusing on strategic relationships with regulators and policymakers. He is also a member of Mastercard’s executive leadership team and management committee.
Before this appointment, Murphy was chief administrative officer, a role in which he drove alignment and execution across functions such as law, government affairs and policy, franchise, people and capabilities, corporate security and more to best position Mastercard to deliver for all stakeholders. He also previously served as general counsel, bringing a business mindset to advance Mastercard's legal and regulatory affairs, public policy, corporate governance and compliance.
Throughout his 25-plus year tenure at Mastercard, Murphy has also served as chief product officer, president of the company’s U.S. region, and executive vice president of customer business planning and analysis. Before joining Mastercard in 2000, he was an associate in the New York and London offices of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.
Murphy is chair of the Board of Trustees for the National Urban League and co-chairs the Cyber Readiness Institute. He sits on the boards of Northwestern Mutual, the Mastercard Impact Fund, Community Solutions, and is a trustee of the U.S. Council for International Business. He is also on the advisory boards of the Asia Society Policy Institute and the Tech for Good Institute, and is a member of the Aspen Cybersecurity Group, Legal Services Corporation’s Leaders Council, the Economic Club of New York and the Council on Foreign Relations. Murphy was named a Legend in Law in 2018 by the Burton Foundation.
He earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Amherst College.
For more information about tickets, e-journal ads and other sponsorship opportunities, please visit the Trustees Scholarship Award Gala site.
Past award honorees represent prominent leaders such as His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan ’14H, Francis Cardinal Spellman ’49H, New York Governor Malcolm Wilson ’70H, U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly ’08H, Ice Bucket Challenge co-founder Pat Quinn ’06, Al Kelly Jr. ’80, ’81MBA, ’19H, former chairman and CEO of Visa, and Dr. Steven J. Corwin, former president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian, among others.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of 55,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Nursing & Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona also continues to be recognized in prestigious national rankings. Most recently for 2025, Iona has been named one of the nation’s best colleges by The Princeton Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recognized Iona as one of top for social mobility in the country, while Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) ranked an Iona degree in the top 6 percent nationally for long-term return on investment. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business, meanwhile, is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just 6 percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review once again named Iona to its “Best Business Schools for 2025,” recognizing both its on-campus and online MBA programs. Connecting to its Irish heritage, Iona also opened a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland, located on the historic 400-acre Westport House Estate. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.