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

eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

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 University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, 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 Univers ...

. Craft was a member of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 9, 1856.Baird, William Raimond, ed. (1905).Baird's Manual of American College Fratern ...

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, politician, and former diplomat who served as the 30th List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nations, United States Ambassador to the United Nations from ...

, was in 2017 appointed as the

U.S. Ambassador to Canada This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Canada.U.S. ...

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 United States Mission to the United Nations, U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the Permanent representative to the U ...

, also appointed by

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...

. The couple have 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 List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. 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 buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

of the unit. The buyout involved Mapco selling a 75% stake in the coal division to the Beacon Group 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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

. 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. In 2019, Alliance started mining under I-70 near the West Virginia state line with Pennsylvania. The long wall mining is expected to last until 2038.

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 larg ...

'' 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 Independent expenditure-only political action committees, better known as super PACs, are a type of political action committee (PAC) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of m ...

supporting

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

. Craft is an ally and donor to Donald Trump. 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 is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

at the

Aviation Museum of Kentucky The Aviation Museum of Kentucky is an aviation museum located at the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky. Incorporated in 1989, and opened to the public in April, 1995. It includes over of exhibit space, a library, and an aircraft restorat ...

. 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 Universi ...

at Kentucky's

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

, 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 (appro ...

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, ...

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 Colorado, specifically ...

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, 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 Giving Pledge, 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."

Awards

Craft was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2008, Craft was named the

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

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 university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

'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 Kentucky Republicans 1950 births University of Kentucky alumni University of Kentucky College of Law alumni American billionaires Philanthropists from Kentucky 21st-century American philanthropists Patrons of schools Sports patrons Sigma Alpha Epsilon members