From Baseball to Business:
Morgan Copeland Brings a Ballplayer's Mindset to Leadership

Kim DeKold 

July 2026

Before college, if you’d have asked Morgan Copeland whether he’d ever work in parking, he’d have laughed and said, “NO WAY!”   On a baseball scholarship to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK), the only parking Morgan was thinking of was at the field.   However, life events, like for so many of us, unexpectedly rerouted him, eventually leading him to, you guessed it, valet parking. Now, after a few laps around the block, he’s all in as the new COO of Parkify, an AI-powered parking management solution.     

Morgan’s new role makes even more sense when you look at what Parkify brings to the industry. Parkify is a tech‑forward parking management company that replaces traditional PARCS equipment and manual processes with an AI‑powered, app‑free, camera‑driven operating system for parking assets. Their goal is to modernize parking, unlock missed revenue, increase Net Operating Income, and give owners real-time operational control.   Services include fast deployment and real-time enforcement. Morgan’s goal is to scale it through a great team.  To understand why he’s the right person to scale a company like this, you have to go back to where his pursuit of excellence was refined: on the baseball field.   

Baseball Morgan 

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Growing up in Loganville, Georgia, Morgan excelled at playing for USA Baseball, even traveling the country for it. Born with a drive to excel, a strong work ethic, and natural talent, he was well known in his community as a leader in the sport.  He had excellent coaches (all four are soon to be in the GHSA Hall of Fame) who cared about him, and he loved how they pushed him to excellence, on and off the field. He received a scholarship to UTK, but, unfortunately, an injury in his first season interrupted his plans for professional baseball. After this injury, he returned to Georgia and attended Georgia Gwinnett College, where he was on the baseball team and got injured again.   While Morgan’s identity had been tightly wrapped up in baseball and being “the best,” baseball was no longer a viable option.  Facing a difficult surgery with a long recovery time, he decided to take a break and make some money valeting.  However, the lessons baseball taught him did not leave him. Three core leadership themes became clear as we talked. 

Hands-On-Experience 

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Before Morgan ever led teams in business, he learned on the baseball field by doing.  He showed up every day, put in the practice, failed and tried again, and earned trust by results. This gave him a foundation in discipline, repetition, and mastery, which he now applies to operations. Like baseball, in business, “the higher you got, the more difficult it became.”  Morgan thrives in this environment as he “needs the challenge.” Tony Vitello was his coach at UTK, and Morgan experienced that “his attention to detail was unmatched.” He took these lessons and applied them to his business life, thriving when things get harder and wanting the challenge. He believes leaders are stronger when they’ve spent time “in the weeds” and understand operations firsthand.  Just like baseball, excellence is built through fundamentals and the day-to-day realities of the work.     

People and Culture Matter More Than Credentials 

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Baseball shaped his belief that the right people matter more than the perfect resume. On elite travel teams and at Tennessee, he saw firsthand that talent alone doesn’t win.  Instead, team chemistry determines performance, humility keeps the team aligned, and coaches shape culture more any formal systems could. Morgan says, “I can teach anybody parking…are you a good fit for our culture?” His coaches taught him to look for players who pay attention to detail, have strong character, and show the ability to elevate the group. His “job is to put the best people in place and let them do their thing.” 

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Take Risks Early 

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Baseball required early, bold decisions to travel nationally, commit to a D1 program, bet on his talent, and push through injuries. When his injuries ended his baseball career, he had to take the biggest risk of all: reinventing himself. That same willingness to bet on himself carried into his early career. It began innocently enough: valeting with his new team at Georgia Gwinnett College at the Mall of Georgia with Ameripark. Rejecting a salaried role as an assistant garage manager, he envisioned the “valet side of things was going to be a gold mine.” He kept taking risks even when the payoff wasn’t guaranteed. He thought he’d focus on earning money for the moment and “never thought parking would be a career for me.” Like many on the TPN team, and most of our parking industry readers, it was Morgan’s grit and good fortune, not his life-long plan, that brought him into parking. 

Morgan remembers, “The early years after baseball were definitely challenging financially and emotionally. But it's ended up working out.”  He worked his way up, learned about the commercial side and eventually ran operations for a local Atlanta company, which was like drinking from a “fire hose.” He then took on sales in the Atlanta market.  He learned by doing and by picking other experts’ brains, like Tim Maloney. Tim and others shared what they’ve learned, sometimes through mistakes, so Morgan could learn from theirs and “make (his) own.”  These early risks became the foundation of the leader he is today.    

Why Early Action Matters 

Morgan believes that “even if it fails in a year, like you're still young, there's no pressure on you. It's okay to make a mistake and make a wrong decision.” Morgan does think it's more difficult to start a “legacy operator” model today.  However, he believes that if you get creative, look for gaps, and get in early with a newer group, there is more opportunity for the young person. Also, he would rather an employee have “four years in the field as a valet than four years sitting in a classroom.” Morgan says to “get out there. You must get out of your comfort zone and interact with people, go to networking events, contribute in some way, and read as much as you possibly can.”  He then smiles and adds, “and get good at AI.”  😊 

Personal Life 

He shares that his family has been a major source of stability and motivation in his life. Morgan says he has stayed rooted in Loganville, Georgia, where he grew up, and that his wife, Makenzie, has been especially important in helping him navigate hard seasons. They have been together since high school, have been married for nearly six years, and she supported him through the injuries and uncertainty that ended his baseball career. He describes her as a steady foundation during a financially and emotionally difficult transition, “There was never pressure with her. It was like, we’re going to figure it out.” He also shared that they now have three boys, even joking that if his kids ever go into parking, they will start as valets so they can learn the business from the ground up.   

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Wrapping It Up 

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Morgan’s ambition and drive are a result of his competitiveness, determination, and boldness in baseball. He is always trying to deepen his expertise, build a better team, and put his team in the best possible position to grow. Today, his swings are strategic bets such as new markets, high-profile properties, and an enterprise sales team built from scratch.  His grounders are the fundamentals he executes daily, from comp structures to legal frameworks.  And his throws show up on LinkedIn where he pushes the industry to think harder about operator accountability.   

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Leadership 101 

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Morgan embodies each principle on my effective leadership checklist and adds one more: 

1. Be curious and invite feedback.  

2. Lead with a clear sense of purpose for yourself and for your customer.  

3. Work hard, work hard, never give up, work hard, work hard.  

4. Lead with respect and tailor motivation to the individual. 

5. Invest in your network and your industry. 

6. Be proactive in client relationships for long-term success.   

7. Pay attention to the details as they drive cost and performance. 

8. Being a valet is a legitimate pipeline to success.     

9. Develop people, not just performance. 

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It was a pleasure interviewing another go-getter in the parking industry. At TPN, we share Morgan’s belief that you must learn by doing and stretch your knowledge and abilities to meet each new industry challenge.