Kerry Healey

Murphy was born on April 30, 1960, in Omaha, Nebraska. She grew up in Ormond Beach, Florida and is the only child of Shirley and Edward Murphy (1919–2005). Her father served during World War II and retired as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve after 27 years of service. He also worked as a residential real estate developer. Her mother worked as a public elementary school teacher.

When Healey was 15, her father suffered a severe heart attack that rendered him unable to work for the rest of his life. This put a financial strain on the family and led Healey to work a number of part-time jobs. Healey also served as class president and student council president at Seabreeze High School.

When she was 16, Healey enrolled in Daytona Beach Community College and began to take classes in computer science. She was hired to help the Daytona Beach News-Journal become one of the first newspapers to transition from typewriters to computerized word processing.

After high school, Healey attended Harvard University with the help of a scholarship. There, she served as the membership secretary of the Harvard Republicans Club and was involved in theater. Healey graduated from Harvard in 1982 with an A.B. in government.

After graduating from Harvard, Healey was awarded a scholarship by Rotary International and received a Ph.D. in political science and law from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland in 1991. While in Dublin, she met fellow Rotary Scholar and Harvard alum Sean Healey, whom she married in 1985.

Upon completing her studies at Trinity College, Healey spent 1985 as a visiting researcher in the International and Comparative Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School.

In 1986, Healey joined Abt Associates, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she performed policy research for the U.S. Department of Justice related to child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, gang violence, victim and witness intimidation and the prosecution of drug crimes. Following her time at Abt Associates, Healey served as an adjunct professor in criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Her first foray into politics occurred in 1998, when she ran for state representative in the 6th Essex District – representing her hometown of Beverly, Massachusetts – challenging and losing to incumbent Democrat Michael P. Cahill. That same year, Healey was elected to the Republican State Committee. She ran against Cahill unsuccessfully again in 2000.

Despite losing her first two elections, Healey became popular among Republicans and was elected chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee in 2001, the second woman to head the Massachusetts GOP. Soon after beginning her term as chairwoman, the Massachusetts GOP began courting Mitt Romney – then the president and CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics – to take over acting-governor Jane Swift's position as the Republican candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

After Swift exited the race, Romney endorsed Healey in her primary race for lieutenant governor against former U.S. Senate candidate and former party chairman Jim Rappaport, ultimately winning by a thirty-point margin. The Romney-Healey team was successful, and Healey was elected lieutenant governor on November 5, 2002.

Healey was married to Sean Healey, CEO of Affiliated Managers Group (AMG). They have two children, Alex and Averill.