The Enbridge Famous 5 Speaker Series profiles extraordinarily successful women

Lara Murphy was only 16 when she started her first business, Handy Student Maintenance, in New Brunswick.

During her studies at Mount Allison University, Lara’s painting business expanded to include maintenance and renovations for homes and yachts. She soon discovered she was more an entrepreneur than a student of history and political science and while playing competitive soccer internationally, Lara’s passion for architecture intensified as she travelled. This led her to start Fresco – a heritage restoration firm.

In 2005, Lara moved to Alberta and her entrepreneurial spirit again led her to launch her own construction company, All Seasons. It was during this time, Lara met Karen Ryan on a construction site in Banff. With a shared vision of wanting to create a business with an objective to be more approachable, transparent and educational within the construction industry, they started Ryan Murphy Construction (RMC) Inc. in 2008. Their company is also Calgary’s only female owned commercial construction company.

Over the years RMC Inc. has grown and its diverse portfolio includes working with companies such as the Sheraton, UNDRCARD, Telus Spark, Junction 9 Yoga, Village Ice Cream, TWT, Gravity Café and The Vin Room

The company has been recognized and featured in The Globe & Mail, PROFIT 500 (ranking #1 fastest growing YYC business in 2016), Canadian Business (Top 100), Chatelaine, Alberta Venture (Fast Growth 50) and MacLean’s Magazine.

RMC is also proud to partner with several community initiatives in Calgary such as Calgary Reads, SAIT, Fast & Female, Accessible Housing, Scotia Bank Charity Marathon, YWCA and Beakerhead.

Lara is the Director of Business Development for RMC Inc., and currently serves on the on The YWCA Board of Directors and several advisory committees.