Great Plains’ Gould brings industry experience to new role

Morgan Gould, director of Business and Industry, will take Joelle Jolly’s place as deputy superintendent July 1, bringing with him years of industry experience.

Originally from Lone Wolf, Gould has been impressed with the Lawton community since 2011.

“This is the biggest community I’ve ever lived in,” Gould said. “I’ve lived in Altus and Weatherford, so this has become home. I’m married, I have three children, all boys, so this is where I’m raising my family. This is where my kids are going to school. I love Lawton, I love Comanche county in this area. It’s certainly become home.”

In his downtime, he enjoys spending time with his family.

“I’ve got (a kid) who is into basketball, so I’ve been coaching some youth basketball,” Gould said. “My youngest is into baseball so we’re about to transition to baseball. A lot of my free time is spent at activities for my children or family things that we’re doing.”

Gould chose GPTC for their community growth.

“I worked in industry for a while and had worked with people at Great Plains, and I had always admired that they did what was best for other people,” Gould said. “It was always about, ‘How do we help people grow their businesses? How do we help people get the skills they need?’ So when an opportunity came up to go to Great Plains, I thought that’s where I want to be. I’ve been to the place where making money is the most important thing and that’s not what I want for my life. I want to work somewhere that we’re about building people up, that we’re about growing our community. And Great Plains was kind of the shining light.”

He can’t wait to start his new position.

“I’m really excited,” Gould said. “As with any promotion, there’s a lot to learn. I actually think that’s what I’m mostly excited about. Great Plains is a fantastic place to be, so this is going to spur me to get into more of what’s going on. I’ve been working in our business and industry services, but now I get to work more directly with our full time programs that have high school and adult students, our summer dropout recovery program and our adult basic education. A lot of those things really make a big positive impact in our community and I’m really excited to learn more about that and work with those programs.”

He loves going to work knowing that GPTC does “the right things for the right reasons.”

“It’s not just me, it’s everyone who works out there,” Gould said. “Great Plains is a very mission oriented organization. We’re about supporting people, both in their work and their life development. It’s hard to find somewhere that you can go to work that has a more rewarding environment.”

Gould wants to make sure GPTC is aligned with changing workforce needs.

“I know how quickly things change out there,” Gould said. “Industry is about generating revenue and profit. When a new way to do that comes up, industry adopts it. If we’re training people to go to work, we have to adopt those things too. We have to figure out how to make sure that when we put our graduates out that their prepared to go to work and be successful.”

His most memorable experience is being part of the 580 Pitch Competition.

“People from all over the area are competing to get financing for their business,” Gould said. “When we go to the live pitch, they have friends and family show up, people cheering them on and it’s such a good representation of the difference that we’re making in people’s lives. At Great Plains, we’re hosting this event for two or three hours and it’s packed with people who want good things and are excited and happy.”

His advice for anyone going into the workforce?

“Be flexible,” Gould said. “Things change all the time. Just because you know things now and that might be the way it’s done, doesn’t mean that’s the way it’s going to be done in six months, 12 months or a couple of years. Being flexible and adaptable to the way things are changing when they get out there, that’s what will make people really valuable.”