Emily Morris is the founder and CEO of Emrgy Inc., an energy technology company based in Atlanta that is disrupting distributed power generation with modular hydropower systems. Since founding Emrgy in 2014, she has secured millions of dollars in funding to bring Emrgy’s solutions to market. The state of Georgia named Emrgy its Top Startup in 2017. 

Within one year of launch, Morris led Emrgy to become the first company inducted into Atlanta’s Innovation Center after having demonstrated new technologies on municipal infrastructure, and the first to receive equity investment directly from the city. In 2017, she led Emrgy in installing the first distributed hydropower array in the United States, in collaboration with the city of Denver and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. In 2020, Emrgy expanded internationally with a commercial installation in New Zealand. The company has secured more than 9,000 miles of water infrastructure in the United States under exclusive rights for renewable energy development.

Presently, Morris is the commercial leader on millions of dollars in U.S. Department of Energy awards and has served as principal investigator on a DOE-sponsored co-operative agreement focused on research and development of innovative technologies in low-impact hydropower. 

Morris began her career as senior project manager at AMT Inc., where she managed multimillion-dollar research contracts to develop new technologies for energy, military, and transportation innovations over a five-year period. She has been active in a range of entrepreneurial activities and has founded, advised, or led multiple startup for-profit and nonprofit ventures. The Atlanta Business Chronicle named Morris to its 2015 “Top 30 Under 30” list, and she has led Emrgy to win two venture capital-backed startup accelerators. 

As a leader, Morris is dedicated to fostering innovation and building collaborative, agile teams, while creating an atmosphere of trust and inclusion within Emrgy, to achieve long-term success and strong stakeholder relationships. Having broken barriers in a male-dominated field herself, Morris actively mentors other women through Emrgy-sponsored internships, training programs, and speaking engagements.

Morris is named as an inventor on five patents, with four others pending. Among her patents are a twin turbine, a hydrokinetic energy system, and a cycloidal magnetic gearbox. She earned a B.S. in human and organizational development with a minor in corporate strategy at Vanderbilt University. 

In her community, Morris has served on the board of directors for Blue Skies Ministries Inc. and as a child care volunteer coordinator for the City of Refuge homeless shelter for women. She lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and their two young children.