Jackson Free Press

The United Way of the Capital Area Board of Trustees recently named Ira Murray as the organization's new president and chief executive officer. Murray will assume his new position on July 2. He is replacing Carol Johnson Burger, who is retiring after 34 years with the organization. Murray has worked for United Way of the Capital Area for close to 10 years. He served as UWCA's director of community investment from June 2006 to June 2007 and vice president of community impact from June 2007 to June 2014.

Murray earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in 2002, a master's degree in education with a focus on human, organizational and community development from Vanderbilt University in 2004, and a doctorate in administrative and policy studies in education from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018.

He has been a K. Leroy Irvis Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education and Center for Urban Education since 2014. He is also a doctoral candidate in UP's Department of Administrative and Policy Studies, where he specializes in issues such as race, equity, and achievement in urban schools and communities.

Murray is a member of the American Educational Research Association and the American Educational Studies Association, and has also served on the boards of organizations such as the Greater Jackson Chamber partnership and the Young Professionals Alliance of Greater Jackson.

The Mississippi Business Journal named him as one of its "Top 40 Under 40" business leaders in 2014, and the University of Pittsburgh Center on Race and Social Problems awarded him with its doctoral student paper award in 2015.

He plans to move to Jackson from Pittsburgh with his wife, Tracy, and his daughter, Imani, in June.