Gordon Morrell

Interview with UCSB's GradPost

By Patricia Marroquin on Nov 14, 2013 in Giving, People

Editor’s note: This guest post comes to us thanks to Patricia Marroquin, a Senior Writer for the UCSB Graduate Division. This post originally appeared on GradPost, the division’s online news magazine, which often features stories about exemplary alumni. Yardi COO Gordon Morrell certainly falls into that category, as do many of our Yardi team members. Read on for the profile and find the full interview on gradpost.ucsb.edu.

Gordon Morrell has been juggling roles for decades, going back to his days as an Education Ph.D. student at UCSB in the 1970s. At that time, in the halls outside their tiny graduate student offices in what is now the Hosford Clinic, he and several of his cohorts would take breaks from their studies and do a little three-ball juggling.

“We actually got to the point where we could pass to each other,” Morrell recalled with a laugh, adding: “It was a stress breaker; it was like a little relief.” In explaining why this routine was helpful for the grad students, he said, “You have to really focus when you’re juggling. You can’t be thinking about other things. So maybe it’s just a good way to get your mind off what you’re doing.”

That focus and work-life balance has served Morrell well. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised along with his older brother in Goshen, a small farming town north of New York City, he earned his Education Ph.D. (Counseling Psychology emphasis) in three years at UCSB. “I went straight through from kindergarten to Ph.D.,” he said. “There were no breaks.” He put himself through college by singing and playing guitar in such local venues as The Feed Store restaurant and bar in Santa Barbara (no longer in existence); SOhO; and Cold Spring Tavern.

Morrell’s career path would end up taking a few twists and turns. As a teenager in his hometown, he sold milk at a dairy farm and was a stable boy at the local horse racing track. After college, he was a university professor in Maine; a county director of childcare services in Santa Barbara; and the founder of a Santa Barbara educational software development company. In 1990, he joined asset and property management software solutions provider Yardi Systems in Goleta, where he has worked since, currently as its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Morrell is on the management team of a company with 3,300 employees and more than 30 offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company website says Morrell “is responsible for protecting Yardi Systems’ corporate and fiscal interests and maintaining operations.” But he will tell you that “maintaining operations” sometimes means getting down on hands and knees to tighten a loose foot screw or seeing that a coffee spill is cleaned up. “It’s sort of a humbling experience,” Morrell said. “But I don’t mind it. It’s just fine.”

Morrell emphasizes that as a 23-year employee of Yardi, “this is a fulfilling job for me.” He also finds his nonprofit work, both through the company and outside of it, rewarding. Yardi is actively involved in supporting nonprofit community organizations with projects related to such areas as the arts (including UCSB’s Arts & Lectures); sustainability; education for disadvantaged youths; and social services. Morrell reads proposals and works with others in the company to decide which projects to fund. “We’re very proud of the amount of nonprofit work that we do through the company,” he said. Outside of Yardi, he is proud to chair the advisory board of public radio station KCLU and work on activities for the nonprofit community foundation The Fund for Santa Barbara.

Find Gordon’s interview with GradPost here.