Nate Morris
B.A. ’03
Entrepreneur, Business Executive
Monumental Achievement: Nate Morris’s vision of using technology to drive free-market environmental innovation led to his founding and serving Chairman of Rubicon Technologies, which offers a digital platform for smart waste and recycling for governments and businesses throughout the world. In October 2016, Rubicon was named a Next Billion-Dollar Startup by Forbes. In September 2017, Forbes reported that Rubicon's valuation was more than $1 billion, making the company one of GW’s unicorns. Rubicon was recognized as an Industry Disruptor by Inc. Magazine; twice named One of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company; and is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study in which Morris is featured as the protagonist. Morris is also the founder and chairman of Lexington, Kentucky-based conglomerate Morris Industries, which is reimagining the industrial economy, and co-founder of the Morris Foundation, which promotes the cherished American value that a better life is possible to those who seek it and invests in causes that provide opportunities for self-advancement. His many honors include being named: to Fortune's 40 Under 40 list in 2014; a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum; and one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2016 by Goldman Sachs at its annual Builders + Innovators Summit. In addition, Morris was inducted in 2019 into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, the youngest person to ever receive the honor.
Biography
Nate Morris is the Founder & Chairman of Rubicon (NYSE: RBT), a leading digital waste and recycling marketplace and provider of innovative software-based products to businesses and governments worldwide. Legally formed in 2009 with a $10,000 line of credit and maxed out credit cards, today Rubicon operates in all 50 U.S. states and 20 countries around the world and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Rubicon has ushered in a new industry standard that works to protect the United States against environmental and national security threats. The company holds more than 50 patents and helps Fortune 500 organizations, main street businesses, and governments around the world move toward increased recycling, efficiency, and tax-payer savings. Under Morris’ leadership, Rubicon has become a catalyst for groundbreaking change across the waste and recycling category while being recognized as “One of the World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company, an “Industry Disruptor” by Inc. Magazine, and a Great Place to Work™ 5 years running.
A ninth-generation Kentuckian, Morris’ family descends from Morgan County, in the heart of Appalachia. A product of public schools, Morris was raised in a union household by a single mother. He graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, as a Scottish Rite Scholar, and was elected Phi Beta Kappa.
Morris was the first Kentuckian to be named to Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list and is a regional winner of EY’s Entrepreneur of Year Award. He is also the youngest inductee ever to the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.
Morris is the founder of the Morris Foundation whose mission is to provide access to the American Dream for all Kentuckians. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council and as the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. In 2019, he endowed the Nate Morris Fellowship through the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC) at the Gatton College.
Committed to using business as a platform to protect the United States, Morris is a member of the Board of Directors of Business Executives for National Security (BENS.org).
Morris is authoring a book that will chronicle his life story and his fight to enter the waste industry. The book is scheduled for publication by the Crown Publishing Group in 2023.
Morris and his wife Jane reside in Lexington, Kentucky.