This past May, Leo E. Morton, chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, announced that he would step down at the end of the 2017-18 academic year. Now Chancellor Morton has announced that he will leave the university in October to become chief operating officer of the DeBruce Companies, a Kansas City firm that manages a diverse investment portfolio and the philanthropic efforts of Paul DeBruce, founder and former CEO of DeBruce Grain, Inc.
Morton has led the university since December 2008. At that time, he was chair of the university’s board of trustees and agreed to lead the university as interim chancellor until a new leader could be found. But a few months later, the board asked him to take the job on a permanent basis. Earlier, Morton had a 40-year career in engineering and manufacturing management.
Morton is a graduate of Tuskegee University, a historically Black educational institution in Alabama. He holds a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
