Morehouse College and the Leaders It Produces in Tech
About the Author: Austin Jeter is a senior at Morehouse College who aspires to work within Product after he graduates in May. Ultimately, Austin’s chief ambition is to be a venture capitalist. Feel free to contact Austin at Austinlb.jeter@gmail.com regarding opportunities, questions, comments, etc…
When many think of the technology industry, the first place that comes to mind is Silicon Valley. Some may tend to think of the culture of wearing T-shirts to work, free food, or nap pods during the workday. Others may think of the Stanford and Harvard grads forming start-up companies in pursuit of becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. Regardless of the image that appears in one’s mind, many would agree that the technology industry is one of the most dynamic and impactful sectors globally.
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As one could imagine, some of the smartest people from all over the world are vying to become a part of the technology space. These people graduated from the likes of the aforementioned Stanford, Harvard and other world-renowned institutions. These people seek to thrive in careers at the likes of Google and Facebook, create the next biggest startup, or become venture capital investors. However, there is one institution that produces bright technologists that may not be as commonly thought of. This institution is Morehouse College, a liberal arts historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. The college is a known producer of leaders, whose most distinguished alumnus is Martin Luther King Junior. Thus, leadership is a core tenet of Morehouse as it is central to the college’s mission of “developing men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service”. This mission is lived through the alumni of the college in a variety of fields, including the tech sector.
Leadership is exemplified by Morehouse Men in a variety of functions within the technology industry including venture capitalists, founders, and corporate executives. In a study conducted by Harlem Capital Partners, it was discovered that Morehouse College has produced the third-highest amount of black venture capitalists more than the likes of Yale and Penn, but only trailing behind Stanford and Harvard. Examples of venture capitalists from Morehouse include Elliott Robinson of Bessemer Venture Partners, Aaron Holiday of 645 Ventures, and Rashaun Williams of Manhattan Venture Partners. To put this statistic in perspective, Morehouse has a total of 17,000 Alumni compared to Harvard’s 370,000 and Stanford’s over 220,000. Furthermore, Morehouse Men are startup founders. Founder’s from Morehouse include serial entrepreneur, Dr. Paul Judge of Pindrop (an Andreessen Horowitz backed company), Shawn Wilkinson Founder of Storj (raised $30M through initial coin offering) and Scooter Taylor and Chidiebere Kalu of Looklive (a Y-Combinator backed company). Moreover, Morehouse Men have achieved corporate success in the technology industry at some of the top technology companies. For example, Damien Hooper-Campbell is the Chief Diversity Officer at eBay, Muhammad Alam is a General Manager at Microsoft, and Fred Humphries is the Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs at Microsoft. These Morehouse College Alumni and many others have paved the way for Morehouse students who are interested in having successful careers in the technology industry.
Overall, it is known that Morehouse College produces leaders in many fields, and the technology industry is no exception. I implore those in this space, who are decision-makers, to not only consider those from Morehouse but to hire them for competitive roles that directly lead to leadership within their respective organizations. Ultimately, there is one thing that Morehouse Men were groomed to do. That is to lead.
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