Reading Terminal Market’s two-month search for a new general manager drew to a close Wednesday when it announced the appointment of Conor Murphy, who will step into the role on May 6.

Murphy is taking over for Anuj Gupta, who is going on to work as U.S. Congressman Dwight Evans’ chief of staff after serving as Reading Terminal’s general manager since May 2015.

Murphy has a wide-ranging background in hospitality, entrepreneurship and philanthropy. After growing up in Ireland, where his family owns a grocery business, he immigrated to the U.S.

Most recently, Murphy founded an advisory company that aids executives and entrepreneurs in identifying and fulfilling philanthropic goals. In 2017, he also founded Philadelphia-based Bearings Coffee, which crafts specialty coffee blends for cocktails and promotes nonprofit causes.

Murphy spent his early professional career at Ernst & Young, where he served as a risk consultant and project manager. Murphy moved to Haiti from 2009 to 2014 and launched the Soul of Haiti Foundation for Irish entrepreneurs. The initiative facilitated partnerships between public and private businesses and fueled collaborations with governments and investors to promote social enterprise, investment, agribusiness and tourism programs. Following the deadly 2010 earthquake near Haiti’s capital, Murphy’s foundation mobilized major players like the Clinton Foundation, Digicel and Alltech to support Soul of Haiti’s initiatives.

The experience left him passionate about corporate social responsibility. Murphy moved to Philadelphia in 2014 to manage a distilling company for a local coffee roaster. He calls the Reading Terminal Market, one of the country’s largest and oldest public farmers’ markets, an “icon” of the city.

The market received applications from more than 50 people across the country, including from Maine and Louisiana. The hiring process relied heavily on virtual interviews and meetings in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are pleased to welcome Conor as our new general manager,” said Albert Mezzaroba, chairman of the nonprofit Reading Terminal Market Corp., which was created in 1994 to manage the market. “His vision for the Market is impressive, his ideas are exciting and innovative, and he has the experience and skill set to lead us, both in the short term through this crisis and in the long term, into the future.”

Established in 1893, Reading Terminal is one of the oldest public markets in the country. It serves about 7.5 million annual visitors and does $60 million in sales annually.