Bob Morrison

Director and Chairman Emeritus

CEO, Quadrant Research

Robert B. Morrison is the founder of the Music for All Foundation and former chairman. The Foundation was created by Mr. Morrison and his family to focus on expanding the role of music and the arts in education, to heighten the public’s appreciation of the value of music and arts education, and to create a positive environment for the arts through societal change. In 2006, Mr. Morrison worked with the leadership and board of Bands of America to merge the two organizations to create Music for All, Inc. and remains Chairman Emeritus.

Mr. Morrison is the Founder and CEO of Quadrant Research, the nation’s leading arts education research organization where he has created a deep body of research and policy work. Mr. Morrison is recognized as a pioneer in statewide arts education status and condition research. He served as the managing partner for the groundbreaking New Jersey Arts Education Census Project, completing the first statewide census for arts education in every school building. Mr. Morrison has led similar research projects as director of the National Arts Education Data Project for the states including Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware District of Columbia, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. These efforts have directly impacted millions of students.

Mr. Morrison also served as the director of Arts Ed NJ, the statewide arts education advocacy organization responsible for the advancement of arts education for all New Jersey students.

Prior to founding Quadrant Research and Music for All, Mr. Morrison helped develop and then served as the first CEO of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, where he created a major national brand responsible for donating more than $25 million of musical instruments to restore more than 1,200 music programs. Previously, Mr. Morrison was a senior executive for the NAMM – International Music Products Association, where he also served as Executive Director of the American Music Conference. In this capacity, he worked with the late Michael Kamen and Richard Dreyfus to create the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation.

He was a founding member of the National Coalition for Music Education and is recognized for his work to add the arts to our nation’s education goals. He continues to work closely with leading national arts organizations to promote the development and implementation of the National Standards for Arts Education. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the publicly traded music software company MakeMusic, Inc. and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Berklee College of Music, ArtPride NJ, ArtsEdNJ, and Little Kids Rock.

Mr. Morrison’s advocacy work has earned him both an EMMY and a Peabody Award, the New Jersey Governor’s Award for Arts Education, and he received an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York. Mr. Morrison received the Motherland Award – the highest honor from the American Red Cross (ARC) – for developing the national public service campaign that aired supporting the ARC following the attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2019, Mr. Morrison was inducted into the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame for his career as a marching member of the Crossmen and as a percussion arranger for the Garfield Cadets and the Santa Clara Vanguard.