News Releases

Alumnus helps build start-up with passion

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

BY WAYNE LARSON

"Passion is what drives most entrepreneurship and it's infectious," said KU School of Business alumnus Brooks Morgan. Morgan graduated with his Bachelors of Science in Finance and Entrepreneurship in May 2009, and by that time he had already begun to put his passion for entrepreneurship to work.

The recent graduate is vice president of business development for Infegy, which is a Kansas City, Mo. based social-media analytics company, and he is one of its three founders. The start-up has already added multiple Fortune 500 companies to its client list within its first year of operation.

Morgan cultivated his passion for entrepreneurship while at the School of Business. "Wally Meyer was a huge inspiration to me," said Morgan. "Getting to see how his mind worked was great." He was presented with those opportunities by taking entrepreneurship classes from Meyer, the Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the School, as well as being president of the Entrepreneurship Club.

"Brooks has a unique blend of capabilities in engineering and business, which is a real advantage," said Meyer. The passion-driven instructor also helped Morgan after he graduated. Meyer's Jayhawk Consulting group, a team made up of specially selected School of Business Master of Business Administration students, helped Infegy develop a marketing plan and conducted primary research for the company. "We helped Infegy see how it could get off the ground," said Meyer.

The young entrepreneur has already begun to pay the School back for the knowledge he gained. Infegy recently hired three School of Business graduates as interns, and "they are coming up with some great things," said Morgan. "The School fosters a great network for peers," he said, and that is most evident in how he came to hire his interns.

"The last night before one of my finals, I was talking to a kid in the library and we really hit it off about things that could be done with Infegy's tool set," said Morgan. Morgan hired his study partner as an intern after that conversation and from there two more School of Business alumni hirings followed per the intern's suggestion.

In addition to hiring School of Business graduates, he is also getting the School great publicity. Morgan was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal article on recent college graduates who are turning to entrepreneurship as opposed to looking for jobs. The article can be found here http://bit.ly/5MEinB.

Despite having graduated, Morgan is continuing to follow Meyer's teachings of being passionate. "You have to have the passion and tenacity that is required to be an entrepreneur," said Meyer. "It has to be your primary motivator."


The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression and genetic information in the University’s programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, IOA@ku.edu, 1246 W. Campus Road, Room 153A, Lawrence, KS, 66045, (785)864-6414, 711 TTY.