Joel Murphy

Joel Murphy is the inaugural Executive Director of the BL Harbert Real Estate Center and Goizueta Distinguished Industry Chair in Real Estate.

Murphy brings more than 35 years of experience in real estate investment, development, capital strategy, governance, and executive leadership. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Murphy Capital & Advisory Group LLC, a firm that actively invests in private enterprises in various evolutionary stages, as well as consults with and advises private real estate and other sector companies with respect to capital strategies, investment approaches, leadership development and value creation opportunities.

Formerly, as Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Preferred Apartment Communities (NYSE:APTS) (“PAC”), Murphy evolved and led the growth and recapitalization strategy for PAC to become the #1 public real estate investment trust in the US in total shareholder return from 2020-2022. With a focus on owning, operating, and investing in high-quality apartment communities and grocery anchored retail centers in first-ring suburban Sunbelt markets, the strategy ultimately led to the $5.8 billion sale of PAC to Blackstone in June 2022. Murphy founded New Market Properties in 2014, a private enterprise actively engaged in the grocery anchored retail space, grew it to $1.3 billion in asset value, and merged it into PAC in 2020 prior to becoming PAC CEO and Board Chair.

Prior to founding New Market, Murphy was President of the Retail Division of Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ), where he oversaw the development, scaling, and operation of Cousins’ $1.2 billion retail portfolio, including the open-air specialty centers known as The Avenue.

Before joining Cousins in 1992, Murphy was a commercial real estate attorney at King & Spalding after receiving his JD from the University of Georgia School of Law, where was an editor of the Law Review, and his BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Murphy served as the Chair of the Westminster Board of Trustees from 2018-2022 and currently sits on the Boards of The Orvis Company and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD) and is a member of The Buckhead Coalition, The Atlanta Rotary Club, and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He is also a former Trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).