Joe Scarlett is the vice-chairman of the Beacon Center of Tennessee. Joe spent nearly thirty years in leadership roles with Tractor Supply Company most of it as President and Chairman. Today Joe is engaged in teaching and writing about leadership, working in the family foundation and striving to improve Tennessee.
In 1982 Scarlett played a key role in the initiative to return the company to profitability through improved customer service and focused product selection as part of a classic leveraged buyout. He was instrumental in developing the company culture which today is admired and often copied. In 1994 Joe led the successful effort to take the company public.
Tractor Supply Company was honored by Forbes as one of the “Best Managed Companies in America” and Scarlett was recognized as Ernst & Young’s Southeast Entrepreneur of the Year. Joe also served twenty years on the board of the nation’s largest retail trade organization, including four as its chairman.
Today Joe is
- Working with daughter Tara Scarlett in The Scarlett Family Foundation seeking to support and improve education in the community. Our mission: We advocate, invest, and work to ensure that all students in Middle Tennessee have access to a high-quality education.
- Working with son Andrew Scarlett in his recently formed Scarlett Hotel Group now operating four hotels.
- Serving as vice-chairman of the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a nonpartisan research organization advocating for limited government, free markets and individual liberty at the state level.
- Coaching management and leadership skills for business and community leaders young and old.
Joe is also the very proud father of two incredible children – Tara and Andrew. He spends time with the family including the four and soon to be five fabulous grandchildren. He and his wife Dorothy are nearly inseparable after 48 wonderful years.