
Joe Freeman
2021 ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
Over the past 25+ years Joe has worked at Big 4 Professional Services firms, as an entrepreneur, leader of a small business in trucking, financial services, creator of CPG brands and as a chief executive of a mid-size company with nearly 300 people. Joe’s approach is to build great teams that will deliver great results. He prides himself in the development of teams who can execute strategic plans of organizations and maintain a culture that leads to consistent growth. In short, People Matter, Culture Matters and Results Matter.
Joe’s experience as an entrepreneurial CEO has led him to banking, financial services, lending, fintech, collections, online marketing, transportation, retail and start up growth ventures. He has learned by performing a variety of leadership roles in developing strategy, SWOT analysis, operations, loan servicing, lending, culture, collections and even help create and maintain $300M bank syndicate. Experience in leading consumer lending, collections, marketing & digital marketing, Amazon sales, selling to big box chains, project management, online customer acquisition, government relations, retail branch operations, call center operations, mergers and acquisitions, product development, executive management, and leadership development.
Joe has been a CEO, a CSO, a COO, a CLO and possess the abilities to work at any level in the organization. He focused on developing human capital by leading teams to grow products, processes and operational efficiency while building and maintaining a strong, award-winning culture. By working in startup environments to mature companies with hundreds of team members, he’s gained a strong insight in growing businesses. Regardless of the size of a company, by focusing on the people it will allow the company to achieve its goals. Being a strong servant leader is a goal he works on each day.
Vast experiences in many arenas allow a unique view into any business and offer ways to make it better and stronger with hard work, tenacity and by having a little fun. Life is too short to not enjoy the work you do or the people you work with. Over the years Joe has been lucky to have leadership roles in multiple industries and the success he’s achieved has been accomplished with hard work, tenacious effort and building outstanding teams.
Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can, or you can't, your right." This is one of Joe’s favorite quotes and reflective of what can happen when a special group of people are aligned, motivated and capable of accomplishing great things together.
