Meg Murphy and Jasmine Shah are the 2021 co-recipients of the Evan Ferguson Award for Service to the Society. The award is given annually to a Society member, affiliate, staff member, or friend of the Society and recognizes outstanding service to Sigma Xi and its mission. Recipients of the award receive a certificate and will have their names engraved on the Evan Ferguson plaque at Sigma Xi headquarters.
Meg Murphy joined Sigma Xi in 2006 as the Facilities and Meetings Manager. After the successful relocation of the Sigma Xi Headquarters in 2015, Meg strengthened her focus on supporting Sigma Xi’s daily operations while continuing her work on logistics for the committee meetings and the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting. This formalized her role as Manager of Administration and Meetings.
Meg is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the Boyd School in Pittsburgh, where she focused on airline operations and the hospitality industry which sparked her career in the hospitality sales field. She spent nearly 20 years in corporate sales with a local hotel company. After relocating to North Carolina, Meg accepted a position as Corporate Sales Manager at the Radisson Hotel in Research Triangle Park where she established a relationship with Sigma Xi as their account representative. This led to Meg accepting an offer to join the Sigma Xi team.
Meg’s enjoyment of working with people and ensuring client satisfaction through attention to detail, teamwork, and upbeat attitude also caught the attention of the PGA Travel Team, recruiting her as a Travel Guide with some of the past Ryder Cup Golf Tournaments in Rochester, NY, Malaga Spain, and Boston, Massachusetts to assist with customer relations and logistics.
Meg’s operations and hospitality industry knowledge laid the foundation for her success as the Manager of Administration and Meetings for Sigma Xi, but she credits the warmth and support of Sigma Xi’s board, planning team, staff, and members for her continued commitment to enhancing Sigma Xi’s brand and membership.
Jasmine Shah has been with Sigma Xi since 1990. Her previous roles as accounts payable clerk, accounting assistant, and financial manager in her first six years with Sigma Xi created an ideal foundation for her promotion in 1996 to Director of Budget and Finance. She served in that capacity for 16 years. In 2013, her role was expanded to oversee operations of the Society and was promoted to serve as Director of Finance and Administration. In addition to serving as Director of Finance and Administration, she served as Interim Co-Director of Operations from August 2014–September 2015 and Corporate Administrator from October 2015–June 2017.
Jasmine received her bachelor’s degree in commerce from Gujarat University in India. She was named “2009 Top CFO” in the Products and Services category for the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina region by Business Leader Media and BDO Seidman, LLP. She is also a member of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE).
Excellent leadership, interpersonal, team-building, and problem-solving skills are some of Jasmine’s best attributes. Her honesty, sincerity, and professionalism are respected not only within Sigma Xi, but also by outside groups. Jasmine is happily married, the proud mother of two lovely children, and grandmother to an adorable toddler. Away from work she enjoys reading, traveling, video editing, and being with family and friends.