The Honorable Patrick J. Murphy – Former Congressman & 32nd Under Secretary of the U.S. Army

Secretary Patrick J. Murphy has had a rich and diverse experience serving his country. First, as a soldier-statesman he served his country in Bosnia and Iraq. He then became America's first Iraq War veteran elected to the U.S. Congress and was then appointed as the 32nd Under Secretary of the US Army. He is a Vetrepreneur, Board Chairman & Change Agent as the Leading Voice of the 9/11 Generation. Patrick is also a Wharton Business School Lecturer, and an Emmy award-winning producer.

Some of the topics he will address include:

• What lessons can be learned from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?
• As a former professor of constitutional law at West Point, he will share his concerns about the erosion of the rule of law, both domestically and internationally.
• Drawing on his experience as acting secretary of the Army, Patrick will share how he was able to reduce over $340 Million from its annual budget without sacrificing its efficiency. He will also share how he achieved his recruiting goals including his diversity objectives by creating a compensation package that appealed to new recruits.
• As a member of the National US Cyberspace Solarium Commission advising the President and Congress, he will share his insights on how exposed the United States is to bad actors (both state sponsored and criminal)? What can be done to better protect our critical infrastructure? Are there lessons to be learned from the hacking of the Colonial Pipeline, and of Change Healthcare?
• As the chair of the Government Advisory Board of the Oracle Cerner Corporation, which supports the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs in modernizing their electronic health records, Patrick is uniquely positioned in assessing how to increase the efficiency of our health care system to better control our runaway healthcare costs.
• Patrick is passionate about helping his fellow veterans realize their entrepreneurial dreams. That’s why he serves as a general partner at the Stony Lonesome Group, a venture capital firm that provides seed funding to companies owned or managed by veterans. He will share with us some of the more interesting ventures he has backed.
• Patrick is a big champion of improving access to mental healthcare, especially to veterans.
• Patrick will share how he uses the media to amplify his role as ambassador to veterans consistently supporting them, as well as elevating them in the public eye by highlighting true stories of heroism by our armed forces.

Event Details
Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Time: 6:00-8:30pm ET
Location: McCarter & English, 15t Floor, 4 Gateway Center, 100 Mulberry Street, Newark, NJ 
                A short walk from Newark Penn Station
Cost (dinner included):
Early Bird Discount (before April 8, 2024)
$50 Per Person for Supporting Member
$55 Per Person for Basic Members and all other Clubs/Guests**

Regular Pricing (after April 8, 2024)
$60 Per Person for Supporting Member
$65 Per Person for Basic Members and all other Clubs/Guests**

*A SUPPORTING (Dues-Paying) WCNJ MEMBER: Any Wharton or University of Penn alum who is a dues-paying member of the Wharton Club of NJ in one of the following categories:
• New Graduate (1st Year after Graduation) or Current Student
• Young Alum (between 1 and 5 years after Graduation)
• Standard 1-Year Member
• Dual WCNJ-Penn Metro Club of NJ Member
• Dual WCNJ-Wharton Health Care Management Alumni Association Member
**A BASIC WCNJ MEMBER: Any Wharton or University of Penn alum living or working in New Jersey who is a non-dues-paying member.

To learn more about membership and to become a supporting member please click here. 

By registering for this event, I give permission for WCNJ to use any photographs or videos of me taken at the event on its website, social media or in promotional materials without compensation. I understand that WCNJ or its members own the copyrights to all photographs and video taken at the event.

Biographies:

The Honorable Patrick J. Murphy is America's first Iraq War veteran elected to the U.S. Congress and later served as the 32nd Under. Secretary of the Army until January 2017. Secretary Murphy is currently the Distinguished Chair of Innovation at the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Senior Fellow at the Association of the U.S. Army, a media executive, and the Executive Chairman of Work Merk™, a professional education platform that bridges the gap between corporations and higher education. He is a graduate of King’s College Army ROTC Program and the Widener University

Commonwealth School of Law, where he currently serves as a Trustee. He and his wife Jenni have two young children, Maggie and Jack, and reside in Pennsylvania.

As the Acting Secretary and Under Secretary, he led the management and operation of the Army—a Fortune 10-sized organization with a workforce 1.3 million, $148 billion budget as well as being the nation’s largest employer of millennials with over 130 thousand hired in 2016. Transforming a more innovative and responsive workforce led to an expansion of the Soldier for Life initiative, which saved $340M in FY16 and was instrumental in reaching recruitment goals for the first time in five years. Secretary Murphy also facilitated unprecedented public-private partnerships generating over $250M in savings, from Major League Baseball to 20th Century Fox

An award-winning media executive, he founded the production company Taking the Hill, which creates television, films and digital content. His current projects include Unconquered (Epix, 2018), Almost Sunrise (PBS, 2017), and Thank You For Your Service (Dreamworks/Universal Films, 2017). He authored the book Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress, (Henry Holt, 2008) and has been profiled in When Trains Collide (PBS, 2017), The Strange History of Don't Ask Don't Tell (HBO, 2012), Taking The Hill (Discovery, 2007), Patrick Murphy: Born To Lead (PBS, 2004), and a 2016 Washington Post article where he was nicknamed the ‘Soldier’s Secretary.’

The nation’s youngest Democratic U.S. congressman from 2007 to 2011, from the Eighth Congressional District of Pennsylvania, Congressman Murphy served on the Armed Services, Select Intelligence, and Appropriations committees responsible for the $3.4 trillion budget. He authored and co-authored several Veterans initiatives including the 21st Century GI Bill, the Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and Hire Our Heroes legislation. After joining the Army at nineteen he graduated from the Airborne and Air Assault courses and served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps as a criminal prosecutor and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Following 9/11, immediately volunteered and served two overseas combat deployments – Tuzla, Bosnia (2002) and Baghdad, Iraq (2003–2004). While serving in Iraq as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, he led a Brigade Operational Law Team (BOLT) and earned a Bronze Star for his service.

Paul Aris, CFA
Financial Advisor,
Vice President/Wealth Management
Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC

Paul Aris works with affluent clients and their families, addressing their planning, investments, fiduciary, and business needs. Focusing on each client’s unique situation, he assembles and leads the team of experts needed to advise them on the full spectrum of their wealth management needs, drawing from Janney Montgomery Scott’s resources.

Mr. Aris brings over 35 years of Wall Street experience. Prior to Janney, Mr. Aris worked for Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor. Before that, he was a Vice President and Banker in the Private Bank of J.P. Morgan covering high net worth clients’ wealth management needs.

Prior to J.P. Morgan, Mr. Aris managed separate accounts for high-net-worth individuals focusing on merger arbitrage and special situations. Before that he worked as a Vice President at Chase Securities helping institutional clients hedge their market risks using interest rate, equity, and FX derivatives. He also spearheaded its Structured Products Group marketing structured notes to institutional investors and private banking clients. Before that, he worked at Salomon Brothers in its Capital Markets Desk covering financial institutions and government agencies.

Mr. Aris has an MBA with Distinction from the Wharton School, an MA in International Affairs from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master's in engineering from Cornell University.

Mr. Aris is also an Adjunct Professor at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University.

Mr. Aris holds The Chartered Financial Analyst Designation, awarded by the CFA Institute.

Mr. Aris is a Director of the Wharton Club of New Jersey.

Mr. Aris is a former Director of The Lauder Institute Alumni Association.