2017 Executive of the Year

Edward J. "Joe" Shoen, chairman and CEO of U-Haul International, was awarded by the Dean's Council of the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Joe Shoen's parents founded U-Haul in 1945, and he has worked at the company for 40 of the 50 years that U-Haul International has been headquartered in Central Phoenix. In 1987, Joe was chosen as the chairman of the board of directors for AMERCO, the parent company of U-Haul. Joe and his brother Mark have devoted most of their adult life to managing U-Haul as a family business.

Under three decades of Joe's leadership, U-Haul has significantly increased choices available to consumers in the do-it-yourself moving and self-storage industry. In 1987, there were 4,600 U-Haul rental outlets. Today, U-Haul has more than 21,000 locations; 285,000 trucks, trailers, or towing devices; and more than 50 million square feet of rentable self-storage space in North America. With 1,100 locations providing propane, U-Haul has one of the largest propane refilling networks in North America and is the biggest seller and installer of aftermarket hitches.

Joe lives in Phoenix with his wife Sylvia and sons, Carty and Joseph. While most of his spare time is consumed with his children and their activities, Joe's interests also include American history aviation. He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Harvard Business School, and Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.