Joe T. Ford

Joe T. Ford is an American entrepreneur and co-founder and former CEO of Alltel.

Life

Joe T. Ford earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at the University of Arkansas in 1959. During his studies, he was a member of the student fraternities Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Kappa Psi. After graduating, he began working for the Allied Telephone Company.

From 1967 to 1982, Ford representative in the Senate from Arkansas. In 1977 he was appointed president of Allied Telephone Company.

The Allied Telephone Company was founded in 1983 merged with the Mid-Continent Telephone Corporation to Alltel. Joe T. Ford was the first president of the company until he was promoted in 1987 as CEO. This activity he held until 2002. In addition, he held the position of CEO from 1991 to 2007. Under his leadership, Alltel expanded into a worldwide organization with over 15 million customers and an annual turnover of about 10 billion U.S. dollars.

Besides working for Alltel Ford was a member of the Supervisory Board of Textron. He also worked for The Dial Corporation, Duke Power Company, Eltek ASA, Beverly Enterprises and the United States Chamber of Commerce. He was also in a leading position for the Arkansas Telephone Association, the United States Telecom Association and the National Exchange Carriers Association operates. In 1985, he co-founded the West Rock Coffee Company.

Between 2002 and 2009, Ford was the director of EnPro Industries.

He is a partner in the investment group West Rock Capital Partners.

Family

Ford is married to Jo Ellen Wilbourn. His son, Scott T. Ford also worked for Alltel.