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The 100 Most Influential Irish Americans in Business: T. Moran – T. Noonan

January 2000

October 27, 2021 by Leave a Comment

Thomas J. Moran

President &CEO

Mutual of America

Assets: $10.1 billion plus

Employees: 1,000 plus

Mutual of America is one of the nation’s preeminent life insurance companies serving health, education, humanitarian and government communities. In 1994 Thomas J. Moran became the first chief executive officer of the company to emerge from within its ranks.

Moran began his career with Mutual in 1975 as a pension underwriter and he has since served the company in a variety of areas, including the implementation of Mutual’s hotline system, an innovation which enables clients to have on-line access to their records, reducing paperwork, thus saving money.

Moran serves on the boards of the Life Insurance Council of New York, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, the University College Dublin Graduate School of Business and the United Way of New York City. He is also a member of the Taoiseach’s (Irish Prime Minister) economic advisory board in the U.S.

A native New Yorker, Moran earned a B.S. degree from Manhattan College and he serves on the board of his alma mater. His grandparents were from Counties Fermanagh and Tipperary, and Moran lives in New York with his wife Joan.

Michael E. Murphy

President

Sara Lee Foundation

Revenue: N/A

Employees: N/A

Michael E. Murphy is president of the Sara Lee Foundation, the entity that oversees Sara Lee Corporation’s philanthropic activities. Sara Lee Corporation is a global consumer packaged goods company with more than $20 billion in annual revenues.

Murphy joined Sara Lee Corporation in 1979 as executive vice president and chief financial and administrative officer. That same year, he was elected a member of the board of directors. In 1993, he was appointed vice chairman. Two years later, he began serving as president of the Sara Lee Foundation. He retired from his corporate post in 1997.

Prior to joining Sara Lee, Murphy held various positions with General Foods’ Maxwell House Division, the Hanes Corporation and Ryder System, Inc. Murphy joined Sara Lee’s corporate office in Chicago when Sara Lee Corporation and Hanes Corporation merged in 1979.

A first-generation Irish American, Murphy is a member of the Irish American Chamber of Commerce. His father hails from Bantry, County Cork and his mother from Waterville, County Kerry. He is also a member of the board of directors of the American General Corporation, Payless ShoeSource, Inc., Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Chicago’s Lyric Opera. He is a director of the Civic Federation, Big Shoulders Fund, Jobs for Youth and the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation.

Murphy graduated from Boston College with a degree in business administration. He also earned an M.B.A. in finance from Harvard Business School. He is married with three children.

Michael Murphy

CEO, M&M/Mars

Regional President, Mars, Inc.

Revenue: N/A

Employees: N/A

As chief executive officer of M&M Mars and regional president of Mars, Inc. Michael Murphy is responsible for confectionery operations and manages all food, pet care and confectionery business in the Americas, North and South.

Murphy joined Mars in 1971 as a manager for one of the computer centers for Uncle Ben’s Foods. Prior to joining the company, he studied in Mexico for several years before transferring to the University of Houston where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science. Fluent in Spanish, he enjoys working with bilingual students in Los Angeles as part of the Principal for a Day Program, a program in which corporate executives adopt a school.

Murphy also sits on the National Board of D.A.R.E. and is a life member of H.O.G., Harley Owner’s Group (he owns six motorcycles). A second-generation Irish American, he traces his roots to Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo and he has several relatives in Kilkenny.

Mars has a subsidiary in Dublin, and Murphy has traveled to Ireland several times for both business and pleasure. He is married with three children and lives in Virginia.

Edward J. Noonan

President &CEO

American Re-Insurance Company

Revenue: N/A

Employees: 1,540

Edward J. Noonan is president and CEO of American Re-Insurance Company and American Re Corporation. Prior to assuming this position in March 1997, he was president of American Re’s domestic insurance company operations, with responsibility for business with U.S. insurance companies. He also served on American Re Corporation’s board of directors.

Noonan joined American Re in 1983 as a production assistant in the treaty division. In 1989, he assumed responsibility for U.S. treaty operations, and in 1992, for all business with U.S. insurance companies. Before joining American Re, he worked in the treaty reinsurance division of North American Re. He has over 20 years experience in the reinsurance and insurance industries.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Noonan is a third-generation Irish American — his father’s family come from Cork and his mother’s from County Clare. He is a graduate of St. John’s University with a B.S. degree in Finance. In 1982, he earned the professional designation of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter.

He is a member of a number of professional associations, and currently serves on the board of directors of the Reinsurance Association of America and the board of trustees of the American Institute for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters. Noonan and his wife Andrea live in Pennsylvania. They have a daughter, Kate, and a son, Richard.

Timothy J. Noonan

President &COO

Rite Aid Corporation

Revenue: $12 billion

Employees: 86,000

Ride Aid Corporation operates over 3,900 drugstores in 31 states and the District of Columbia. The company also owns PCS Health Systems Inc., a subsidiary which markets prescription benefit plans and other managed care services to employers.

Timothy Noonan joined Rite Aid in 1969, and started his retail career as a store manager and pharmacist. Through the years he held numerous key positions at the nationwide drug store chain, and is currently president and chief operating officer.

He has also been a member of the board of directors since 1995. Additionally Noonan serves on the board of directors for United Way of Harrisburg and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. He is also on the advisory board for the Business College of Niagara University and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

In September 1998 Noonan was honored with the national Leadership Certificate of Phi Lambda Sigma from the Albany College of Pharmacy chapter. He is the third Albany graduate to ever receive this prestigious award based on leadership skills and professional abilities.

A native of Syracuse, Noonan graduated from Niagara University in 1963, and from Albany College of Pharmacy in 1966. His father’s family was from Co. Leitrim and his mother’s from Co. Roscommon. He resides in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania with his wife Carol. They have five children and ten grandchildren.♦

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