EXECUTIVE PROFILE

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Thomas H. Murphy
CIO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Miami

Title: CIO

Company: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Location: Miami

Industry: Cruise/Vacation

Educational background:

B.A., English, University of Richmond, Va.

Years in IT: 16 years

Experience:

1999 – present, CIO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

1997-1999, vice president and CIO, Bristol Hotels & Resorts, Dallas

1995-1997, vice president, WizCom International Ltd.–Avis Rent A Car Inc.’s technology subsidiary, Garden City, N.Y.

1993-1995, vice president of IT, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Hampton, N.H.

1989-1993, director of IT, Interstate Hotels Corp., Pittsburgh

1984-1989, director, property management systems (PMS) & telecommunications; senior project manager, PMS; project manager, PMS pre-installation and training; and support manager, PMS, Marriott Corp., Washington, D.C.

Career advice: Learn to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, from the boardroom to the cubical. It’s the key to success.

Best career advice ever received: Hire people who are smarter than you are.

Career challenge: Making the leap from a relatively small hotel technology group of 60 people to a Fortune 500 company utilizing advanced technology with more than 300 people in IT.

Solution: Maintain the sound management style and philosophy that works in a small shop; don’t be intimidated by size; focus on the critical deliverables in the first six months.

Last two books read: Finding & Keeping Great Employees, by Jim Harris and Joan Brannick, PhD.; The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, by Michael Lewis

Family: Wife Lisa, son Harrison (7), daughter Kate (3), son Thomas (1)–and one on the way!

Last vacation: Purgatory, Colo., ski vacation, 1999

Hobbies: Music, basketball, reading

Favorite saying and philosophy: People are our most valuable asset and should be treated as such; the most successful companies have the fewest rules.

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