Our Team

Jim Murdock

Strategic Partnerships Inc. (SPI) Consultant Jim Murdock is an experienced higher education administrator with substantial financial acumen gained over 45 years of diversified management positions in central administration and academic units.

Jim began his professional higher education career at the regional campus of the University of Michigan-Flint (U-M). He subsequently served the university as chief financial officer (CFO) and assistant dean for finance and planning for the Ross School of Business for 23 years. In that role, he participated in the planning and construction of several academic and auxiliary enterprise facilities.

After retiring from U-M, Jim served in several interim vice president for finance and controller positions for the Registry of College Presidents of Peabody, Massachusetts and the Association for Governing Boards (AGB) in Washington, D.C. He recently completed a six-month assignment with the Florida Institute of Technology as its interim controller and interim assistant to the CFO.

Jim also held the position of interim vice president for finance and administration of Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan. In that role, he was the chief financial and administrative officer for the campus, supervising the units of finance, business operations, budget, human resources, facilities management, public safety, and information technology.

His other interim assignments included positions as the vice chancellor for fiscal affairs at the University of Indiana-South Bend and at Antioch College as interim CFO-controller. In 2020, he served three months for AGB as the interim CFO for Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas.

Throughout his career, Jim was a member of the Society for College and University Planning where he served multiple terms as a board member and treasurer. He was the 2004 recipient of SCUP’s Distinguished Service Award.
Jim holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Muskingum University and his Master of Business Administration from the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed all doctoral coursework at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at U-M.