William Murphy Retires from CIC Board of Directors After Four Decades of Construction Industry Leadership
By GEORGE DRAPEAU III
TARRYTOWN, NY—The Construction Industry Council announced that William “Bill” Murphy, who led a major heavy/highway contracting company in the downstate region for more than two decades, Halmar Contracting, Inc., of Mount Vernon, NY, has retired from his position as a member of the trade group’s Board of Directors. Mr. Murphy joined the CIC Board of Directors in 1986 and guided the association and its affiliated organizations through four decades of significant membership growth—from its initial 60 companies to more than 250 major employers in 2026.
As one of the longest-serving CIC board members, Mr. Murphy brought expansive experience and professionalism to the association, honed throughout his career as a professional engineer, a contractor, a business owner and, thereafter, as a member of other industry organizations as well.
“I have a keen interest in professional societies, especially those with an engineering reputation,” he explained. “There were many factors that drew me to become part of CIC. I saw that many people we competed against were its members. In the early years, my wife, Mary, and I went to the CIC’s annual mid-winter meetings and conventions in Florida and Arizona to get to know our competitors— away from the pressures of day-to-day construction and business. These conventions are a great opportunity that CIC offers; they create environments for exchanging ideas and perspectives that can help make your company become more successful.”
CIC covers a wide range of heavy construction and building construction issues as part of its organization’s agenda, Mr. Murphy observed. “CIC addresses those better than all the other industry-specific trade groups in the state,” he added. “CIC looks out for the contractors that are working on large site jobs, such as IBM and Regeneron, and smaller contractors that are doing the municipal work.”
Another strategic growth area during his board tenure resulted from the strong bonds forged between CIC and organized labor—an achievement he credits to two men, CIC-founding President Ross Pepe and the late Edward Doyle who was president of the Building Trades Council of Westchester & Putnam Counties, Inc. (1990-2023).
“Ross and Eddie were remarkable, creating the teamwork for extraordinary joint labor-management cooperation that we in the construction and building trades continue to benefit from,” Mr. Murphy explained. “Both men mastered their roles in industry affairs, politics and organizational management. Their talents certainly made our jobs a lot easier as board members.”
Mr. Murphy encouraged the CIC to broaden its vision by building upon the strong alliance with organized labor to add the conservation community, forming a triumvirate rarely witnessed in industry or politics. The action led to new CIC campaigns for increasing public works funding in areas of pollution control facilities, upgrading infrastructure networks and helping to win statewide voter support for “green” bond referendums.
He recalled in 1991 how CIC became a founding member of the Clean Water/Jobs Coalition—an organization that would grow to more than 1,000 private and public enterprises in the state and win billions of dollars of federal and state public works funding through the EPA, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and its Environmental Facilities Corporation. “We were very much a team when it came to pushing government officials to produce the money required for water and sewer infrastructure on a local and state level,” he said.
Among the initiatives the CIC advanced during Mr. Murphy’s board tenure was the establishment of the Louis G. Nappi Management & Labor Scholarship Fund, which has bestowed more than $1.1 million in over 250 college student grants since its inception in 2009.
“The Louis G. Nappi Scholarship program is one of the best things that I’ve seen happen at CIC,” he reflected. “It’s been most rewarding to be a part of it…helping the next generation of high school graduates go to college and deepen their education. I look back at this legacy with gratitude that CIC is still pushing the envelope and awareness of the benefits of a good education, and that we are making possible meaningful jobs and careers in construction to so many young people.”
His early employment included work on federal highway projects for Savin Brothers of Bluefield, CT. Mr. Murphy came to an important career fork in the road when he made a professional decision to turn down the opportunity to work for a large, nationwide company, opting instead to join Halmar Construction, Inc., in 1972. The company evolved from Halmar Construction into Halmar Contracting, Inc., in 1985, with Mr. Murphy serving as president. The enterprise earned the distinction of a “Top 400 Contractor” by Engineering News Record.
CIC Chairman George Pacchiana described Mr. Murphy’s contributions to CIC as incalculable. “The wisdom, knowledge and experience Bill brought to the CIC boardroom cannot be measured,” he said. “Bill’s governance and leadership will have lasting impact as CIC takes on all industry challenges we face on a daily basis.”
Mr. Pacchiana described Bill and his company, Halmar Contracting Inc., as a “formidable competitor in the heavy and highway industry. Bill was the president of a company that could perform large-scale, complicated projects that few other companies could consider.”
The CIC chairman pointed to the $100-million-plus highway interchange in Suffern, NY in Rockland County and reconstruction of the Hutchinson River Parkway off I-287 in Westchester as prime examples of Halmar’s impressive project portfolio.
Mr. Pacchiana concluded, “I know I speak for my fellow board members to extend to Bill my deepest gratitude and wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement from the CIC board.”
It was at this time in the early 1990s when Mr. Murphy also served on the board and as the then-president of the Associated General Contractors, New York State.
In 1996, Mr. Murphy sold his interest in Halmar and founded William Murphy & Associates, a company that provided project management, estimating and claims consultation to the contracting community.
A native of Newburgh, NY, in Orange County, Mr. Murphy attended Saint Patrick’s High School and graduated from Manhattan College in 1967 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Two years later, he earned a Masters of Structural Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
He is also one of the co-founders as well as a past president and honoree of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh, Inc. The local chapter was established in 1999 and has built more than 115 houses, with new, multi-family units soon to come.
Mr. Murphy concluded that stepping off the CIC Board doesn’t necessarily mean stepping away. When there’s a will to give back to the greater good, there’s no such thing as retirement.
“It’s a transition to a new chapter,” he explained. “Although I am stepping down as a CIC director, I am not leaving this alliance. I will continue to support where I can, and work to achieve and celebrate every milestone that lies ahead. The construction community is part of who I am, and that connection is renewed and reinforced in the many projects and campaigns we take on, hopefully for years to come.”
Published: April 21, 2026.