James B. Murray, Jr.
Presidential Precinct Logomark in White

James B. Murray, Jr.

Founder, The Presidential Precinct; Managing General Partner, Court Square Ventures

Jim Murray is the founder of the Presidential Precinct, managing general partner at Court Square Ventures, and Rector of the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia. He has been a principal in firms specializing in investment banking and venture capital for telecom and information technology businesses since 1982. Prior to Court Square Ventures, he was a founding partner and chairman of Columbia Capital, which today manages six venture funds aggregating over $3 billion. He is also the managing partner of Greenmont Timber Partners, Greenmont Farms, LLC and President of Murray Enterprises, LLC.

During his career Jim has served as a director of over three dozen technology companies including some seven firms that were IPOs, publicly listed, or merged into public companies. He is the former Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. He also served on the American board of the Smurfit Graduate School of Business Administration, University College, Dublin, Ireland.

Jim is the author of Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular Revolution in America, the first definitive account of how the American cell phone industry evolved (selected by Booklist as one of the “top ten” business books of 2001). As an inventor, Jim is the holder of a U.S. patent for a wireless maritime ignition control system.

Jim has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School; the Darden Graduate Business School and the McIntyre School of Commerce at the University of Virginia; the Graduate Business School at the College of William and Mary; the Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin, and at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Jim is the former member of the Board of Visitors and former Rector at the College of William and Mary. He is former chairman of the President’s Monroe Commission overseeing the re-development of James Monroe’s “Highland”, and former Chairman of the Charlottesville – Albemarle Community Foundation. From 2001 through 2009, he served as Chairman of the Virginia Governor’s Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments.

Jim received his B.A. from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from the Marshall-Whyte School of Law at the College of William and Mary, and an honorary Doctor of Laws from the College of William and Mary.

Recent News

Announcing the Inaugural Cohort of Corporate Leaders

04/23/2024

15 established executive leaders from 8 African countries will arrive at the Precinct on April 29. CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – With thanks t...
Read More

Recent IVLP programs spark timely conversations on elections in democracies worldwide

03/21/2024

Headlines are abundant: 2024 is already proving to be a big year for elections. According to TIME magazine, “More voters than ever in his...
Read More

Grace Klauer: Catching up with Precinct Alumni in Cairo

03/19/2024

In December 2023 I had the pleasure of meeting with several Presidential Precinct alumni while visiting friends in Cairo, Egypt. It was hea...
Read More

Celebrating Ten Years of the Mandela Washington Fellowship: Young African Leaders Returning to Williamsburg and Charlottesville in Summer 2024

02/27/2024

The Presidential Precinct is proud to announce its selection as an Institute Partner for the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young A...
Read More

Thanks to new Chair appointment, Global Advisory Council enters next season with strength

02/26/2024

The Presidential Precinct is proud and grateful to announce Dessie Nash, Market Investment Executive at Bank of America Private Bank, as th...
Read More

Alumnus Launches Needs Assessment for Zimbabwe

01/23/2024

Bright Chimedza, 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumnus, has recently published his latest needs assessment report - part of a career-l...
Read More