Michael G. Morris

The youngest of three children in his family, Michael Morris was born in 1946 in Fremont, Ohio, where his father worked as a justice of the peace. Morris describes his father as a man of integrity who taught him that his word is his bond. His father also taught him the importance of punctuality and advised him that no matter how green the grass looked on the other side, it usually was not.

When Morris was in the fourth grade, a law was passed requiring all justices to be members of the bar. Because his father was not a member, he lost his job. The family moved to Toledo, where Morris's father found a job as a credit manager. Morris says his father was essentially a bill collector who was often lied to about accounts, causing him to become distrustful. "My mother balanced things out, though, because she was very trusting," he says. "She taught me to look for the best in others. She also believed that if something were meant to be, it would be. Both of my parents were very loving."

Shortly after their move, the family converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. Morris was an altar boy throughout his high school years. He also helped preside over the funerals of local dignitaries. Finding such duties to be deeply moving, Morris declared that he wanted to be a priest and enrolled in a Jesuit all-boys school. By the time he reached high school, however, the dances with the nearby all-girls school changed his mind about becoming a priest.

Throughout his childhood, Morris worked. He and his brother had paper routes; once those routes were completed, they would return to the plant and take 40 more papers to sell on the street to passing motorists. Morris also cut grass and painted houses. By the time he was in high school, he was working weekends and summers as a short-order cook in a Toledo restaurant.

Morris entered Eastern Michigan University in 1964, where he earned a degree in biology. The Vietnam War was in full swing during his college years, and he joined ROTC, thinking that if he had to fight, it would be better to go in as an officer. He commanded EMU's Reserve Officer Training Corps brigade and was also interim president of his fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi.

In 1971, Morris began doing environmental impact statements for a small engineering firm. Believing he needed more education, he earned a law degree through four years of night school and worked during the day for American Natural Resources. From 1988 to 1997, he worked for Consumer's Power.

In 1997, he served as chairman, president, and CEO of Northeast Utilities in Hartford, Connecticut, and in 2004, he became chairman, president, and CEO of American Electric Power. Morris led AEP's efforts to build an integrated gasification combined cycle plant, the first commercial-scale use of the technology for power generation, which grew to become the largest plant of its nature. AEP eventually became one of the nation's largest electric utilities.

In 2005, Morris and his wife, Linda, lost 23-year-old Justin, the younger of their two sons. "Through the help of friends and family, Linda, Ryan, and I have found peace and are able to look back and celebrate Justin's life," he says of this tragic period. "I've relied heavily on the advice my mother gave me so long ago: if it's meant to be, it's meant to be, and the good Lord will never send you a challenge you aren't able to handle."