William S. “Will” Morris IV has been named CEO of Morris Venture Capital (MVC), a new division of Morris Communications Co. LLC, it has been announced by William S. Morris III, Chairman and CEO of Morris Communications.
MVC is a captive venture fund established to identify and nurture growing businesses.
“As CEO and president of Morris Publishing Group, Will has done a tremendous job guiding the newspaper division through a turbulent period and ensured that MPG is once again on solid ground,” Chairman Morris said. “Will’s vast experience with business enterprises and with capital markets makes him the logical choice to establish and oversee this division.”
“Morris Venture Capital gives us a great resource to take advantage of new business opportunities,” said William Morris III. “While MVC is a new division of our company, it actually represents a formalization and focus of what we have been doing for several years,” he said. “We have invested in a number of different businesses in recent years, some of which we have run ourselves, and some of which have been managed by others.
“Now is the time for our company to focus on opportunities that exist for venture capital investment. In our company we have no one more capable, experienced or interested in finding and financing growing businesses than Will. Over the past 20 years, he has been instrumental in identifying business opportunities and committing our company to assisting in their growth.”
“I am excited to have the opportunity to lead a new division of our company in pursuing different directions for investment,” said Will Morris. “MVC will give us a vehicle to explore new areas for locating and assisting businesses with potential for growth and expansion. I have always enjoyed working with new business ideas and innovative concepts. I look forward to leading Morris Venture Capital in identifying new investment areas that will lead our business into the future and ensure opportunities for generations to come.”
Will Morris received a B.A. degree in economics from Emory University, and joined the family business in 1990 as assistant to the publisher of the Athens Banner Herald/Daily News and as general manager of Athens magazine. He then served as general manager of The St. Augustine (Fla.) Record before returning to Athens in 1992 as publisher of the newspaper. He moved to corporate headquarters in Augusta in 1995, becoming president of Morris Communications Co.
He has served on boards and committees of the Newspaper Association of America, Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, Radio Advertising Bureau and other industry organizations.
He is a past member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and Rotary International, and has served on the boards of directors of Darlington School, the Community Foundation for the CSRA and Georgia-Carolina Council of Boy Scouts of America. He is a trustee of the Morris Museum of Art and a member of World Presidents’ Organization.