Global Expert On Collaboration To Direct Una's Agile Strategy Lab

Nov. 11, 2019

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256-606-2033 or 256-765-4392 Guy McClure, UNA's College of Business, at gymcclure@una.edu, 256-764-4107 or 256-777-0506 FLORENCE, AL - Ed Morrison has been named director of the University of North Alabama's newly formed Agile Strategy Lab within its Institute for Innovation and Economic Development. He will begin his tenure immediately. Morrison is best known for ground-breaking work in collaboration and agile strategy, which includes assisting clients throughout the United States and in a number of international locations. The lab will work in partnership with the Agile Strategy Lab at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Greg Carnes, Dean of UNA's College of Business, announced the appointment this week. Morrison has most recently served as the director of the Agile Strategy Lab in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue. He will also continue to serve as a fellow at the Strategic Doing Institute, where he co-authored its most recent book, Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership. "To have someone of Ed Morrison's significance joining the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development will be a game-changer for UNA's ability to promote economic growth in this region and beyond," Carnes said. "His wealth of experience and proven leadership in strategic regional development will create many opportunities for collaboration and innovation." Before his career at Purdue, Morrison worked for Telesis, a corporate strategy consulting firm. In this role, he served on consulting teams for clients including Ford Motor Co., Volvo, and General Electric. He served as an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve, in Cleveland, Ohio, and the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Morrison has conducted manufacturing cost studies in the U.S., Japan, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Sweden, and France. "Joining UNA is exciting for a number of reasons," Morrison said. "First, the University is innovative and experimental. People move fast. Second, the College of Business is nationally recognized for its executive online program. The future of our work will be to extend online training in Strategic Doing into different management sectors. Working with the College of Business puts us on the frontier of the rapidly emerging field of open innovation. Finally, mycolleagues at UNA are wonderful professionals. I look forward to continuing to build a global presence for UNA through our work together." Morrison began his professional career in Washington, D.C., where he has served as a legislative assistant to an Ohio congressman, staff attorney to in the Federal Trade Commission, and staff counsel in the U.S. Senate. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude with honors from Yale University, in New Haven, Conn., and Master's in Business Administration and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va. About The University of North Alabama The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I's ASUN Big South Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/