Joseph Craft III (born 1950) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the president and chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners, L.P., the third-largest coal producer in the eastern United States. Craft has taken the

Giving Pledge The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, an ...

, pledging "to give the vast majority of my resources to philanthropic causes and charitable endeavors targeted to people and organizations that embrace individual responsibility, economic freedom, reducing poverty and providing opportunities for those willing to chase the American dream."

Personal life

Craft received an undergraduate degree in accounting in 1972 from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's ...

, and then earned a JD degree in 1976 from the

University of Kentucky College of Law The University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, also known as UK Rosenberg College of Law, is the law school of the University of Kentucky located in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded initially from a law program at Transylvania Universit ...

. Craft was a member of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national socia ...

fraternity. Craft's wife, businesswoman and former US Alternate Delegate to the United Nations

Kelly Craft Kelly Dawn Craft (; born February 24, 1962) is an American businesswoman, political donor, politician, and former diplomat who served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2019 to 2021. Craft previously served as the United ...

, in 2017 was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Canada by Donald Trump. In 2019 she became the

United States Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations ...

, also appointed by

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

. The couple shares six children and, as of 2018, 11 grandchildren.

Career

Craft began his career at Mapco Inc, a pipeline company that had diversified into other energy sectors, based in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

. In 1985, he was elected senior vice president of legal and finance. In 1986, Craft became head of the coal division at Mapco. In 1996, Craft led a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

of the unit. The buyout involved Mapco selling a 75% stake in the coal division to the

Beacon Group JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the w ...

Energy Investment Fund. The new company was called Alliance Coal LLC. In 1999, he led the effort to take Alliance

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...

. In August 1999, he became president and chief executive of Alliance. In January 2019, while already President and chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners' general partner, he also assumed the additional role of Chairman of the general partner's board of directors.

Political activism

The ''

Lexington Herald-Leader The ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' is a newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and based in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paid circulation of the ''Herald-Leader'' is the second lar ...

'' reported that Craft had given more money to Democratic candidates at the state level of office between 2008 and 2019 than to Republican candidates. In January 2012, Craft donated around $500,000 to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts ...

. On July 11, 2016, Craft hosted a private fundraiser for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky. Through a trust, Craft contributed $1 million to the Trump presidential inaugural committee.

Philanthropy

In 2015 Joe Craft and his wife Kelly Craft co-founded the

Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics (simply Craft Academy) is a two-year residential early college high school serving approximately 146 academically exceptional high school juniors and seniors at Morehead State Universit ...

at Kentucky's

Morehead State University Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ea ...

, a special program for academically exceptional high school students. By 2019 they had committed over $10 million to the Academy. After Craft pledged $6 million toward the completion of the project, the Joe Craft Center, a state-of-the-art

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

practice facility for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

men's and women's basketball teams, was named for him. This was the largest private gift in the history of UK Athletics. The Joe Craft Tower, a wing of the Hazard ARH Hospital in Hazard, was completed and opened in 2014. Craft donated $1 million to the project. In 2014, he donated $5 million for "A Gathering Place for Tulsa", a park to be built along the city's

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

waterfront. In 2016, he donated $4.8 million for the construction of the facility housing the day-to-day University of Kentucky football operation. In 2019, he made a $3 million gift to support the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise, in the

Gatton College of Business and Economics Gatton College of Business and Economics is a college of the University of Kentucky. Gatton College educates more than 4,000 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students in accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing and supply ...

, of the University of Kentucky. In 2022, he made a $7.5 million gift to renovate the University of Kentucky football team's indoor practice facility. Craft has taken the

Awards

Craft was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2008, Craft was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region energy, chemical, and mining category. In 2009, Craft was inducted into the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin t ...

's Collins College of Business Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Law Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P.Hazard ARH Celebrates Completion of new $47 million patient tower
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craft, Joe Living people People from Hazard, Kentucky Businesspeople from Kentucky 1950 births University of Kentucky alumni University of Kentucky College of Law alumni American billionaires Philanthropists from Kentucky 21st-century philanthropists Patrons of schools Sports patrons Giving Pledgers