About W.D. Morrison
Meet Dan
Dan Morrison is a 6th generation Mississippian who grew up in a Jackson generation subsumed by the Southern social tectonics of the 1950s and 1960s. Father of two, he’s a published biological scientist and business writer, amateur historian, and dabster cook. Dan was a New Left radical and teen revolutionary in days when that could be hazardous to one’s health in Mississippi. His personal mission is to promote peace, creativity, and unity on the planet.
The child of upper middle-class parents, young Dan was raised in a literary and artistic circle “where the greatest values were interesting guests, stimulating conversation, good bourbon, and polite children”. This rich background informs his writing, providing a unique perspective on culture and history that resonates with readers.
The sophisticated socializing at home took place against a backdrop of the rapid and violent changes that came with the civil rights movement: lynchings, bombings, and the creation of a state-funded spy agency dedicated to preserving the “Mississippi Way of Life.” The buzz in the air of Dan’s childhood included… Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, James Meredith, Freedom Riders, Medgar Evers, The Beatles, Martin Luther King, Neshoba County, White Citizens Council, Jimi Hendrix, Timothy Leary, My Lai, and Da Nang.
In his forthcoming book Edge City, Mississippi we relive those times through the eyes of a kid who was skating on the edge himself… busted in a liquor store after hours at age 13, a chronic sneaker-outer with a penchant for getting caught, a disfiguring skin condition that made him a social outcast, the tragic deaths of two close friends when he was fourteen. All this orchestrated to an incredible rock and soul music soundtrack that catalyzed the transformation of America.
Dan came of age at the height of the Vietnam era and the rise of the counterculture movement. In high school he was among the pioneer class of hippies in Jackson and became actively involved in creating a bi-racial youth community center called Edge City. The officials of Jackson, in league with the FBI and the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, did everything they could to close the place. Edge City, Mississippi tells the tale of how a group of committed young people joined forces to change the Mississippi Way of Life.
Career Bio
In his business career Dan was an entrepreneurial leader with an extensive portfolio of success driving development and overall operations of technology-based organizations across governmental, private, and academic sectors. He was instrumental in launching start-up enterprises and turning around underperforming operations.
Morrison enjoyed a broad record of success leading overall operations, tackling problems head-on, and steering organizations through the challenges of rapid growth and change. He proved adept at leveraging advanced business acumen, strategic thinking, and business planning skills to build efficient operations and bottom-line growth. His core strength was establishing and maintaining trust-based relationships at the senior executive level in the organizations he served.
Morrison developed deep experience working with state government leaders, planning and directing consultative IT engagements, building teams, and delivering a diverse spectrum of secure hosted solutions. To his clients he brought top-notch project management, communication, engagement management, and team-building skills to meet their business goals and objectives, ensure project delivery, and hit performance targets.