2017 Top 40 Under 40: Rupa Murthy, 39

Chief Development Officer, YWCA Richmond

For eight years, Rupa Murthy worked at Virginia Commonwealth University as director of development for the psychiatry department. She initiated a fundraising strategy for the Healthy Minds Campaign, which culminated in 2014 with the Virginia Treatment Center for Children. Murthy is passionate about children’s education as well. She continues to advise Mayor Levar Stoney’s office on education issues after serving on the mayor’s transition team.

But Murthy also credits her upward momentum to “supportive, driven teams of women to help me accomplish my career goals throughout the years.” She’s been chief development officer at YWCA Richmond for two years, and has already increased contributions by 200 percent. Her additional campaigns have led to constructing the Sprout School, a preschool in the Children’s Museum of Richmond.

Politicos might recognize Murthy’s name from former Gov. Mark Warner’s office. Murthy cultivated a relationship between the governor and Asian communities. She facilitated the production of a 2005 trade mission to India that helped cultivate more than $100 million in economic development for Virginia companies operating abroad.

Murthy keeps herself grounded through family life, she says. “My singular achievement is working incredibly hard with my husband to nurture our three children to be kind, brave and smart.”

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