Monday 11th October 2021 Vol 001 Edition 00020
by photojournalist Jim Campbell
Trefor Murphy
The chief executive officer is one of many corporate executives managing an organisation- especially an independent legal entity such as a company or non-profit institution. CEOs find roles in various organisations, including public and private corporations, non-profit organisations, and government organisations.
The duties of the company’s CEO are set by the organisation’s board of directors or other authority, depending on the company’s structure
They can be extensive or quite limited and are preserved in a formal delegation of authority regarding business administration. The CEO of a company is not necessarily the owner or the head of the company.
Responsibilities include decision-making on business strategy and other key policy issues, leader, manager, and executor. The communicator role can involve speaking to the press and the rest of the outside world and the organisation’s management and employees; the decision-making role involves high-level decisions about policy and strategy.
As a manager, the CEO presides over the organisation’s day-to-day operations.
As an executive officer of the company, he reports the status of the business to the board of directors, motivates employees, and drives change within the organisation. As a manager, the CEO presides over the organisation’s day-to-day operations.
The Chief Executive Officer is the person who is accountable for a company’s business decisions, including those in operations, marketing, business development, finance, human resources, and so on.
‘A Day in the Life of’ profile for edition 20 is Chief Executive Officer Trefor Murphy
I was delighted to meet up with my cousin Trefor on his recent visit back to his hometown. It was a quick visit by the Wexford man and I just had one chance of meeting with him, on the beautiful marina in Wexford town.
Trefor was educated in the Christian Brothers School in Wexford town. His ambition when he finished school was to be a hairdresser. “I didn’t have the hair for a hairdressing job,” said Trefor jokingly.
Not sure which path to take and on the advice of his dad Peter, Trefor went on to do an engineering degree at Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford.
During the day, Trefor worked in Sola Lenses in Wexford town while commuting three nights a week for four years back and forth to WIT to complete his engineering degree
Trefor is now CEO and co-founder of Cooper Fitch. Cooper Fitch provides recruitment, executive search, HR advisory, and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services to organisations worldwide.
The company has recently opened an office in Dublin, Ireland, and the office in Saudi Arabia will open early in 2022.
Before the successful launch of Cooper Fitch, Trefor was the Managing Director for an international search firm, supporting the Middle East and North Africa operation and a shareholding partner of the group.
He spent fourteen years working with this exact search firm globally, helping to make it one of the most recognised recruitment brands in the world.
The Wexford native has lived permanently in the gulf since 2012
Cooper Fitch was established in 2016 after a successful MBO (management buyout) of the international recruitment company called Morgan McKinley, MENA offices.
After reforming the new company with new ideas, Murphy and his team are now considered the leading recruitment and HR advisory consulting firm in the GCC.
As a key advisor to his clients, Murphy has developed a reputation for his vital insight and a comprehensive understanding exceptional to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf markets
As Trefor explains, he has an early start each morning. “I don’t like getting out of bed early, but I get up early, usually around six-thirty. I try and get to the gym for half an hour. Have breakfast in the office around seven-thirty.”
Following breakfast, the CEO checks his emails to check if he has received any online correspondence overnight.
The man from the Model County could attend anywhere between ten to twelve daily meetings throughout the day daily. “It’s usually back-to-back meetings, maybe eight to ten, even twelve meetings a day. A lot of marketing and internal issues. Then a lot of work with clients.”
Wexford often referred to as The Model County, gets its name from early, progressive farming methods
Meetings include discussing the clients’ needs and creating recruiting and HR solutions for Cooper Fitch’s various companies. “We find the people that they need for their projects.”
The CEO ideally would like to finish between six to six-thirty. As a CEO, he understands it could be easily seven or later before he would be finished.
“I like the autonomy, I like making decisions. Even if I make the wrong ones, I still make the decisions for the business”
What Trefor likes about his career is, “I like the autonomy, I like making decisions. Even if I make the wrong ones, I still make the decisions for the business. I love the people interaction; we have a big team, forty people in Dubai. Eight of them are from Ireland. I love working with clients and problem-solving.”
“There are massive opportunities in Dubai for young people financially and from a career point of view”
“There are massive opportunities in Dubai for young people financially and from a career point of view. We have taken on four or five young Irish people in the last two years. Already there are in a position where they have a great lifestyle, but they are also saving money and doing well for themselves.”
Trefor is also a regular contributor to Dubai Eye’s radio show ‘Business Breakfast’ and CNBC Arabias TV news channel
The man from the ‘Model County’ is a valid member of several human capital advisory boards for various international and locally based corporations; he has a keen interest in technology. Murphy has a sharp eye on technology start-ups.
His advice to young people, “My advice to young people, is to try and find a career in something that they like to do. Do some research and find the closest thing to what you like to do. Stay at it for a while, don’t be trying to move around. Stick at it for a couple of years.”
Working in Dubai- “Keep an open mind, Irish people are very good with other nationalities. Very well thought of in the Middle East. They are seen as hard-working, with great ethics and good morals. There are hundreds of nationalities in Dubai. They like people with good ethics and moral standing. The rewards and the opportunities would be bigger.”
“Coming from Wexford, I always wanted to set something up in Wexford. Maybe a research centre.”
Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks to CEO Trefor Murphy for his contribution to the blog ‘A Day in the Life of’. Very much appreciated JC
Images and original text © All Rights Reserved Jim Campbell 2021
About the author
Jim Campbell is an Irish photographer, freelancer and photojournalist. Campbell has being contemporary photographer for more than two decades.
A native of Wexford town in the south-east of Ireland, Campbell studied photography in the Dublin Institute of Technology before going to work with a newspaper.
Since 1998 he has been working with local and national papers in Ireland and the UK. His work has appeared in publications globally including newspapers, magazines and online publications.
In 2013 Campbell made his first of what would become many trips to the conflict areas of the world. To observe more on Jim’s work vist the link to his website below.
Jim Campbell has been covering conflict areas since 2013. Check out his website www.warlens.co.uk
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF 