Nate Morris

Life

Morris was born in Lexington, Kentucky and raised in Louisville by his mother. He attended Eastern High School, where he played football, was captain of the debate team and was elected president of his senior class. While at Eastern, Morris was selected to attend Boys Nation and met President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office.

Morris won an academic scholarship from the Scottish Rite to attend George Washington University. At GWU, he lived in the Hall On Virginia Avenue and was selected to participate in a year-long program called "America After Watergate." While attending GWU, Morris worked at the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Department of Labor and the White House. He is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

After college, Morris spent time in China lecturing at the Beijing International Studies University and working for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Morris returned to the United States and enrolled in graduate school at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. At Princeton, he studied under former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and was named a fellow at the Center for the Study of Presidency.

Business

In 2008, Morris and high school friend Marc Spiegel founded Rubicon Global. Spiegel's family had been in the garbage hauling trade for more than a century; his knowledge piqued Morris's interest in starting a company that could disrupt the waste industry. Morris maxed out personal credit cards and sold items on eBay to fund initial expenses, like a website and basic legal work.

Morris is currently CEO of Rubicon. As CEO, Morris has led the company's fundraising efforts. Investors in Rubicon include Leonardo DiCaprio, Henry Kravis, Paul Tudor Jones, Auren Hoffman, Barry Sternlicht, Brad M. Kelley, Chris T. Sullivan, Bruce Lunsford, Marc Benioff, Fifth Third Bank, Goldman Sachs and Wellington Management. In April 2016, a source told the Atlanta Business Chronicle that Rubicon was raising funding that could value the company at $1 billion. In October 2016, Rubicon was named a Next Billion-Dollar Startup by Forbes.

Rubicon was the subject and Morris was the protagonist of a Harvard Business School case study published in 2015.

Morris is also the founder and chairman of Lexington, Kentucky-based Morris Industries, a privately held holding company.

In 2016, Morris was named the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics. Morris will offer guest lectures at the college, serve as a mentor for the UK Venture Studio and for UK teams in business plan competitions, and spend several days per year at the college engaging with students, faculty and community members.

Advocate for benefit corporations

Morris is an advocate for benefit corporations. In 2013, Morris worked with the leadership of companies including Warby Parker and Prudential Financial to pass a law in Delaware recognizing public benefit corporations. In 2014, Morris spoke in support of benefit corporations at a conference sponsored by the Harvard Business Law Review.

Awards and recognition

In 2013, Morris received the U.S. Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Americans award.

Morris was named to Fortune's 40 Under 40 list in 2014. Also in 2014, he was recognized by the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame as an Emerging Entrepreneur and was named to the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders class.

Morris was named one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2016 by Goldman Sachs at its annual Builders + Innovators Summit. Also in 2016, Morris was named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in the Southeast region and named to Waste360's first annual 40 Under 40 award list.

Morris is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Young Presidents' Organization Bluegrass Chapter and the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of The Churchill Centre, the Dean's Advisory Council at the Gatton College and a board member of Endeavor Louisville.

Media coverage

Morris and Rubicon were profiled in the January 2017 issue of Forbes magazine. Morris has been featured in media outlets including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, and National Journal.

Politics

Morris was raised in a family of Reagan Democrats and was close to his grandfather, who was a United Auto Workers leader in Louisville.

Morris's views, however, lean more to the right. He is a Republican and has been described as a "wunderkind" political fundraiser in The New York Times. Morris raised money for President George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign and was recognized as a Maverick.

Morris has helped to elect Kentucky Republicans including Sen. Mitch McConnell, Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Rep. Anne Northup. He is a friend and supporter of Sen. Rand Paul. Morris traveled with Paul to Israel in 2013 and raised money for his Senate and presidential campaigns. Paul wrote about Morris and Rubicon in his book, Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America.

In 2014, Morris received the Leadership Institute's Conservative Leader Award and Maverick PAC Future 40 Award.

Speaking engagements

Morris has been a speaker at events including the 2016 Concordia Summit, the 2015 Robin Hood Investors Conference and The Economist's The World in 2016 Breakfast: Atlanta. He has participated in waste industry related events including the 2012 Wharton School Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership Conference, the Appalachian Ohio Zero Waste Initiative's Waste to Wealth Summit, the 2013 Enactus Fall Leadership Conference, and WASTECON 2015.

Philanthropy

Morris created the Morris Industries Foundation, which invests in causes that provide opportunities for self-advancement. Programs funded by the foundation include the Lewis Sexton Scholarship Fund, which provides college scholarships in Kentucky to children of UAW Local 862 members or retirees.

Recent gifts given by the foundation include the Gatton United Building Campaign.

Personal

Morris is married to Jane Mosbacher Morris, the founder and CEO of To the Market. She is the daughter of Robert Mosbacher, Jr. and the granddaughter of oil mogul and U.S. Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, Sr..