Former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Cisco Systems, Morgridge is an American businessman from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin who attended Wauwatosa East High School. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin in 1955. While at Wisconsin, he joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He worked part-time at jobs such as washing equipment in a sweet pea cannery, digging stone at the quarry in Lannon, washing walls in Milwaukee's Pabst Brewery, doing road construction on Highway 64, and working as a railroad brakeman.
Morgridge earned an MBA from Stanford University in 1957. Prior to Cisco, he served as President and COO of GRiD Systems. Prior to that, he held senior positions with Stratus Computer and Honeywell Information Systems. He joined Cisco in 1988 as its second Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.
He grew the company from $5 million to more than $1 billion in sales and from 34 to more than 2,250 employees. In 1990 he took Cisco public; in 1995 was appointed Chairman; and in 2006 became Chairman Emeritus. He was replaced by John Chambers as CEO in 1995 and as Chairman in 2006. Morgridge helped set the culture of Cisco as one of innovation, empowerment, frugality, and giving back.
As Chairman Emeritus, he has continued to champion a range of education and corporate citizenship initiatives, and has served as a guiding force behind the company's long-term commitment to focusing on basic human needs, responsible citizenship, and access to education. He has served on several corporate and charity boards of directors, including the Nature Conservancy and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and has been a trustee of Stanford University, where he has taught management at the Graduate School of Business. He was featured in the documentary film Something Ventured, which premiered in 2011.
Morgridge married his high school sweetheart and special education teacher, Tashia Frankwurth. They have an adult son and daughter, and six grandchildren; a second son died of leukemia. He speaks frequently about philanthropy, strategic management and principled leadership, entrepreneurship, and how education and technology can fuel economic and societal development throughout the world.
He has taught management at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and has served on its School of Business Advisory Council. In 1996, he received Stanford's Arbuckle Award for Excellence in Management Leadership. Morgridge has served as Co-Chair of the Asia/Pacific Council of The Nature Conservancy, Co-Chair of the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars, and has served on the Boards of Business Executives for National Security, CARE, the Cisco Foundation, the Cisco Learning Institute, Morgridge Institute for Research, Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, TOSA Foundation, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
He and his wife are among the group of American billionaires who committed to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes and/or charities as part of The Giving Pledge. In 2010, Morgridge and his wife donated $175 million to create the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars, an endowment which would provide grants to low-income students attending one of Wisconsin's public colleges or universities. He has also actively supported a range of education, conservation, and human services initiatives.
