Tom McMurry

Tom McMurry joined the Mission Support Directorate (MSD) as Senior Strategic Advisor in 2023. McMurry applies his expertise to analyze and develop mitigation strategies for strategic risks, with a particular focus on environmental liabilities, litigation, and legislation. He works closely with MSD leadership to provide valuable guidance on programs, projects, activities, and policies. Additionally, he plays a key role in developing business strategies and approaches for problem resolution across the MSD portfolio.

Prior to MSD, McMurry served as NASA’s Deputy General Counsel. As a key member of the NASA Legal Leadership Team, he assisted the General Counsel to enable the NASA mission through legal operations across diverse practice areas that included contract and fiscal, commercial and intellectual property, international, human resources and ethics, other transactions, acquisition integrity and other legal disciplines. He oversaw substantive legal advice and assistance provided by NASA’s Associate General Counsels and effectively collaborated with Chief Counsels at each of NASA’s ten field centers. As the agency’s Suspension and Debarment Official, he also provided leadership to assure acquisition integrity for NASA.

McMurry previously served as Chief Counsel for the Langley Research Center, where he and his staff provided legal, business, and ethics advice to the Director of Langley, senior management, and all center elements in all areas of law and policy affecting center operations and interests and implementation of Agency strategic goals and objectives. He also facilitated the center’s representation in all litigation in which Langley was a party in coordination with the Department of Justice and United States Attorney’s offices. While in this role, he also implemented modern information technologies and leadership structure that enabled effective collaboration between all NASA attorneys and support staff. Previously, McMurry served for over 10 years in roles including the Deputy Chief Counsel, Acquisition Integrity Program Coordinator, and Business Law Attorney. He also worked at NASA Headquarters as lead of the Agency Council Staff and executive for the Administrator’s strategic decisional council.

In 2018, McMurry retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Colonel with experience leading and managing legal organizations in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He led integration of the Army’s Reserve and Active legal components, and he commanded the Army’s expert legal unit of nearly 100 senior attorneys providing unique legal expertise to the Army JAG School, the Army Legal Services Agency, and the Offices of the Judge Advocate General. Earlier assignments included leading the JAG Corp’s General Officer Support Team, serving as the US Army Legal Command’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, and serving in Judge Advocate positions ranging from Deputy Regional Defense Counsel to Operational Law Attorney for the U.S. Joint Forces Command.

McMurry earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from James Madison University, a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Richmond, and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. He is an active member in good standing of the Virginia Bar, admitted to practice in the Commonwealth’s highest Court. His executive leadership training includes the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for a Democratic Society, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Command and General Staff Officer Course, and Combined Arms Services Staff School.