Joe Scarlett 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.
