Morgan Construction Co. President Jeff Morgan poses for a portrait outside their offices on Thursday, May 3, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Jeff Morgan at a glance
* Age: 58* Job: Founder, president and CEO of Morgan Construction* Education: A graduate of Baylor School and the University of Tennesseein Knoxville* Personal: He and his wife Melissa reside on Signal Mountain and have three children — Bri, John and Mary Austin.
Morgan Construction Co. at a glance
* Started: 1993 by Jeff Morgan, who remains its sole owner* Headquarters: 690 Manufacturers Road* Staff: About 40 employees, including project estimators, managers, superintendents and payroll personnel.* Territory: Company has done projects in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Arizona.* Company focus: “We serve our customers first in everything we do.”
Jeff Morgan was 23 years old when he started a construction company with a handshake loan for $120,000 from Pioneer Bank in Chattanooga.
The young University of Tennessee graduate concedes he was not a star student in Knoxville, nor was he an experienced building contractor at the time. But Morgan did have a solid work ethic, which he says he acquired from his father. He started working full-time in the summer as an assistant maintenance man at Fontana Woods apartments at age 14.
Morgan’s father, John Morgan, was a prominent attorney of some means and sent his boys to Baylor School, but he wanted his children to know that value and importance of work at a young age. Early lessons in entrepreneurship for Morgan included paying rent to his father to use his mowing equipment, running a firewood cutting partnership, selling junk at the 23rd Street Flea Market and establishing credit with his first bank loan when he was still a senior in high school.