Born in Bradford, Yorkshire England in 1950, educated at St Bede's Grammar School and University College Cardiff, he obtained a BA (Hons) degree in research methodology and served as a full time officer of the Cardiff Students Union.

On leaving University in 1972, he was a teacher of special needs children at Fairwater Comprehensive School in Cwmbran, Wales and a tutor on courses with the Open University of the United Kingdom. In 1973 he joined the Open University full time as a Research Fellow, directing its first major longitudinal study of the learning careers of adult learners. This led to him becoming Senior Counsellor with the Open University in Wales, responsible for student progress and support for all students in the Welsh region. He worked on courses (Research Methods, Inquiry, the Foundation Course in Social Sciencesand was responsible for An Introduction to Statistics). He obtained a Masters of Philosophy degree in 1983 for his work on the psychometrics of the theory of psychological reversals - then a new theory of human motivation with which he has been closely associated since its initial development in the early 1970's.

During his time as a Senior Counsellor he perused various training and development projects and practiced as a counselling psychologist, writing extensively about his work and offering basic texts on counselling theory and practice. He was Associate Editor of the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling and a founding board member of the British Psychological Society's Counselling Psychology Section - all work which earned him a Fellowship of the British Psychological Society (FBPsS) in 1985. A doctorate looking at reversal theory as the basis for therapeutic practice followed in 1987 - both graduate degrees were awarded by The Open University of the United Kingdom.In 1986 he joined Athabasca University as Dean of the Faculty of Administrative Studies and worked with colleagues within the Faculty to build its programmes, develop Certificates and grow the Faculty. Later he became the first Executive Director of the Centre for Innovative Management (CIM), home of the world's first on-line executive MBA - a programme he directed and managed from 1993-1997. This was a major innovation at the time - the Internet was in its early stages of development, software to support learning was also new and we also determined to resources this programme as a self financing programme. The key to this success was teamwork and determination in the face of many challenges. This work later led to the award of an Honorary Doctorate in e-learning from Athabasca University in 2000.

In 1998 he left the University to join Axia NetMedia Corporation so as to focus his attention and skills on consulting and development work. As a Vice President, he ran Axia's Lifeskills International Ltd business in Europe and also managed the development of Citizen Connect LTD - another Axia company. His clients for the strategic consulting work included Heinz, Wal-Mart, Barclays Bank, Citibank, Metropolitan Housing Association (a non-profit housing corporation), First Group's rail division, Barclaycard Visa, Oracle Corporation, EMC and many others. This exciting work took him around the world and created many opportunities to work with some of the leading executives in some of the world's leading companies. In addition, he was able to develop a non profit Masters degree programme for Metropolitan Housing offered in association with Middlesex University, where he continues to hold a Visiting Professorial appointment.

In 2003-5 he returned to Athabasca University as Executive Director, External Relations – a Vice Presidential level appointment. The key to this work was building alliances, networks and connections between the University and its publics, developing opportunities for growth while ensuring that its relations with government, non profit organizations, for profit organizations and the public are positive, productive and supportive of the University's strategic intent. He left this position in May 2005 to return to writing, consulting and engaging in innovative activities. He was appointed Chief Scout of the Innovation Expedition Inc. in November 2005.

In this capacity he is closely involved with the innovation agenda across Canada – he worked on the NRC Renewal project, worked on the development and creation of EnergyINet, led work on Alberta’s roadmap for the bio-economy as well as the current state assessment of the ICT sector in that Province. He has recently completed a consultation document on Intellectual Property Management for the Government of Alberta. He has collaborated with Alan Cornford in studies of innovation performance of Western Canada and Ontario as well as facilitated a variety of meetings and workshops focused on innovation, including two meetings of the Ontario Research and Innovation Council and a national meeting of the Provincial/Territorial officers for innovation and S&T policy. He developed an innovation tool kit for a leading beverage company as well as working with other firms on innovation best practices. As a working journalist, he has written extensively on innovation – most recently for the business magazine Alberta Venture.

He is Co Chair of the not for profit educational charity The Galileo Network and a Trustee of the Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. He was recently appointed to the board of Alberta Ballet – one of Canada’s leading ballet companies.

Dr. Murgatroyd has written and published 25 books (including two bibliographies), three pamphlets, 29 chapters in edited works, 47 peer reviewed papers in academic journals, 45 contributions to journals and magazines (including reviews) and over twenty journalistic pieces in newspapers. He is a regular contributor to The Edmonton Journal and has hosted TV and radio programs, the most recent of which was a TV series on the Future of Cities for Canadian Learning Television.

He is married with two adult children and lives in Edmonton, Alberta.