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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was first published in 1943 and has been translated into more than 250 languages. The book tells the story of a pilot and a young prince. In one scene, the prince encounters a fox, whom he gradually befriends. Eventually the prince must continue with his journey but not before the fox leaves him with these words: “Men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

 To this day, David Morris still remembers the fox’s advice. As the CEO of ZuPreem, a food manufacturer for zoo animals and specialty pets, Morris believes adamantly in man’s moral obligation to take care of the animals they have tamed. Since 1993, Morris has led ZuPreem in its commitment to high-quality products for companion birds, ferrets, small animals, omnivores, exotic felines, and primates.

 ZuPreem is part of a family business founded by Morris’ grandfather Mark L. Morris Sr. He was a veterinarian in Edison, N.J., who noticed that sick dogs and cats could sometimes be successfully treated by changing their diets. Through research, Morris Sr. developed a line of foods to treat various diseases and established a company that over time would develop three distinct brands,  Prescription Diet, Science Diet, and ZuPreem. Although all three product lines were eventually sold to Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Morris spun off the ZuPreem product line in 1993. 

 “To become independent, I had to establish manufacturing and distribution outside of the Hill’s system within the first year,” Morris says. “We had some sales, and that was a huge benefit, but in many ways we absolutely were starting the business again from the ground up.”

Now, Kansas City-based ZuPreem is one of three nutrition lines feeding zoos across the United States. ZuPreem branded products can also be found in pet retail stores, breeding facilities, and veterinary clinics around the world. The key, according to Morris, is understanding the needs of the consumer and “meeting those needs as consistently as possible.”

A business administration major and political science minor at �԰�����, Morris remembers fondly the challenge of his business policy and business law courses. Chuckling, he also recalls political science professor Tucker Gibson, a “dynamic” teacher who lectured with an unlit cigar hanging from his mouth. In addition to academics, Morris was engaged in multiple extracurricular clubs, ranging from the Triniteers social fraternity to the �԰����� Student Association, where he served as president his senior year. It was groups like the Student Association, Morris says, that taught him valuable lessons he uses today as a CEO.

“The biggest things I learned were learned outside of the classroom,” Morris says. “Through the Student Association alone I learned how to negotiate, to perceive when there was a problem or opportunity, to understand how we could all come to an agreement and then execute. It was selling ideas, gathering buy-in, and trying to fix a problem. At the end of the day, that is management.”

Morris helms ZuPreem with a simple philosophy: “hire good people, define what success looks like, and empower those people to deliver the expected results.” He jokes that CEO cannot mean “chief everything officer” and says it is important to have the discipline not to become involved in every single decision. Morris was fortunate to be able to turn to his late father, Mark Morris Jr., for guidance about the family business until Mark passed away in 2007.

“I am proud to be the third generation in the animal nutrition industry,” Morris says. “Both my father and my grandfather understood the gift of being your own person, making your own decisions, and learning from your mistakes. Yet, he was always there when I asked for help.”

In addition to heading up ZuPreem, Morris also serves as the vice chair of the Morris Animal Foundation (MAF), established in 1948 by his grandfather and wife, Louise, as the Buddy Foundation. In its nearly 70-year history, the MAF has invested more than $100 million into studies that advance the health of animals worldwide. Currently, the MAF is funding a $32 million national study that follows 3,023 golden retrievers over the course of their lifetimes. Since the breed has an elevated risk for developing cancer, this study aims to understand possible genetic risk factors that could make the animals more likely to develop the disease.

If Morris is proud of his work at ZuPreem, he is even prouder of the MAF, the largest private funder of animal health studies in the world.

“Nutrition is a key component in helping animals live long lives,” Morris says. “I deeply believe in the power of the human-animal bond and how animals enrich the lives of people. If we can help animals live longer and healthier lives, then we are absolutely promoting that bond.”

It is a bond Morris lives out in his own home with the animals he has tamed, two rescue dogs named Bradley and Boeing that are the most “fabulous, greatest dogs in the world.”