Nate Morris

Challenge breeds opportunity. A Heartland success story.

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.