Featured business person: Mark D. Murphy

MARK D. MURPHY

Commercial banking relationship manager, Commerce Bank

A Wichita native, Murphy dearly missed a couple things while working in Arkansas for several years: QuikTrip and the YMCA.

“I'm a QuikTrip fanatic,” he said.

However, it wasn’t Wichita’s amenities that brought him back – but business opportunities. Murphy moved back to take a job with Commerce Bank, and also to help his wife open the Apricot Lane women’s fashion boutique in Bradley Fair.

Murphy, 37, graduated from Wichita East High and earned a degree in integrated marketing from Wichita State University. He spent 10 years working in sales and management for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Wichita, western Kansas and then central Arkansas.

He returned here three years ago, joining Commerce as a credit analyst and then working as a small-business banking specialist.

“One area I focused a majority of my time on was expanding opportunities in the medical community,” he said. “I was hyper focused on the dental industry.”

Murphy said his recent promotion “allows me to focus on expanding relationships with larger businesses and organizations.”

Murphy and his wife, Kami, have three children – Aidan, 7; Cooper, 4; and Madeileine, 10 months.

Although Murphy said his wife is primarily responsible for running Apricot Lane, he said his role has offered a lot of lessons about the workings of small business.

He enjoys running for exercise, recently completing two half-marathons. And he’s active at the East YMCA as a volunteer, including serving as chair of its annual Strong Communities campaign.

“We take the YMCA for granted here,” he said. “We just assume everywhere has this awesome regional system. When I moved back, I thought if there’s one organization I’d sure be happy to help in any way, it would be the YMCA.”

Joe Stumpe

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Featured business person: Mark D. Murphy."