Denise Murphy McGraw
Denise Murphy McGraw is a native of Merrick, Long Island. She received her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the State University at Brockport in 1989, and is a 2001 graduate of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of Association Management at the University of Charleston in South Carolina.
Prior to joining Hill, Gosdeck and McGraw, Denise held a variety of positions within state government, trade associations and at one of the largest employers in Upstate New York. She was legislative director for Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle of Rochester, and was responsible for legislative advocacy efforts which led to one of the most significant business tax cuts in state history. During her tenure as executive director of the Chamber Alliance of New York, she helped develop the strategic plan that transformed the organization into one of the largest state-level trade associations for chambers of commerce in the United States. Denise also helped author a law to make health insurance more accessible for New Yorkers working in small businesses. Recently, she helped secure the first medical fee schedule increase for the New York State Workers Compensation System in more than 16 years, ensured passage of legislation regarding authorized settings to employ licensed mental health professionals, and increased state aid to community colleges.
In 2007, Denise was elected to the Association of Junior Leagues’ International Board of Directors, which represents almost 200,000 women in 293 communities throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain. She founded the Junior League of Schenectady and Saratoga County’s award-winning “Operation Back-to-School” program, which provides students with backpacks filled with required school supplies. Recently, the program was expanded to include the Smart Scholars program – a collaboration between Schenectady County Community College, Schenectady High School and the Bill & Malinda Gates Foundation. She was also instrumental in launching the League’s “Kids in the Kitchen” program, an effort to combat childhood obesity.
In 2008, Denise chaired the Presidential Search Committee for Schenectady Community College, which led to the naming of Dr. Quintin Bullock as SCCC’s first new president in more than 17 years. As chairwoman of the SCCC Board of Trustees, she worked with the college’s president to launch a new $12 million student housing initiative, create a downtown campus and construct an $8 million state-of-the-art music education building. She also secured the donation of a new building in downtown Schenectady to enhance the college’s economic development and job training efforts. In addition, as chairwoman of the Advocacy Committee of the New York Community Colleges Trustees, she led efforts to increase the state share of aid to community colleges by $150 per FTE. Her work at SCCC was rewarded with a Trustee of the Year Award from the New York State Community College Trustees and a leadership position with the
American Community College Trustees.
Denise, her husband David and their 11-year old daughter live in Niskayuna, New York, where she runs the annual Halloween parade for the town’s children as well as helps coordinate the town’s swim team.
