Brian T. Murray, currently the Assistant Administrator of Morris County, has worked in government since leaving the daily news industry in 2010 to join the administration of Gov. Chris Christie.
Prior to that, he enjoyed an award-winning 30-year career as a writer, reporter and columnist for major daily newspapers in New Jersey, including over 20 years as senior writer at The Star-Ledger. Mr. Murray served on reporting teams that became Pulitzer Prize Finalists in 2010, won the 2005 Pulitzer-Prize for Breaking News and won the American Society of News Editors’ 2010 Jesse Laventhol Prize for Breaking News.
His news reporting spanned an era when New Jersey had a large number of local daily newspapers and media outlets covering all aspects of municipal, county, state and federal government operations on a daily basis. At the time, the coverage of public officials and government activity by hundreds of local journalists in New Jersey not only helped to set public policy, but also set legal precedents that guaranteed media access — and therefore public access — to government records and public proceedings.
After leaving the news industry, Mr. Murray became Director of Communications & Marketing at the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development and, shortly thereafter, joined Gov. Christie’s communications office, where he served as Press Secretary and Director of Communications.
In 2018, Brian opened BurnPin, LLC providing crisis management, strategic communications, government liaison and public affairs services to private and public organizations. He also managed and guided various campaigns for U.S. Senate, Congress, the New Jersey Legislature and county offices.
Mr. Murray joined the County of Morris in 2020.