Founding Partners
Leadership Team
J. Byrne Murphy is an entrepreneur, author, and educator with 40+ years of experience in international development and investment. Four times he has imported US concepts to Europe, growing two start-up companies into $1+ billion global enterprises.
Byrne owns Kitebrook Partners, a real estate development and investment company. In 2024, Kitebrook launched a data center platform in the Nordic region to develop the infrastructure needed for AI-enabled data centers.
In 2001, he and Bill Conway, Co-founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, launched DigiPlex, a Nordic-based data center company, which they built into a world leader in data center sustainability. DigiPlex was sold to IPI Partners in late 2021 and now operates under the brand STACK Infrastructure.
Before his pioneering work in data centers, Byrne developed private residence clubs in Europe, starting with the restoration of Palazzo Tornabuoni, a 15th-century Medici palazzo in Florence, Italy. Club Tornabuoni has been operating for 16 years, with members from 38 countries. In 2010, the project won the Urban Land Institute’s prestigious Award of Excellence for EMEA.
In 1992, Byrne co-founded BAA-McArthurGlen, which exported the designer outlet concept from America to the UK and Europe. Byrne led its expansion across Europe, resulting in more than 30 million annual shopping visits and more than $1 billion in annual sales.
A Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College, Byrne earned his MBA from the University of Virginia. He is a visiting lecturer at his alma mater. In 2008, Byrne’s book, Le Deal, was published by St. Martin’s Press. It is the tale of how he and his partners at McArthurGlen built the billion-dollar business despite overwhelming odds. Le Deal was awarded the Axiom Gold Medal for Best Memoir in 2009.