Hometown boy named CEO of the Year

Warren County native Joey Jacobs was named 2005 CEO of the Year by Business Tennessee and made the cover of its December edition. (Photo courtesy Business Tennessee)

Talk to him on the phone and Joey Jacobs comes across just like another other guy with Warren County roots. You could never tell he’s the CEO of Psychiatric Solutions, a billion dollar company with 55 facilities in 27 states.

Now Joey has another claim to fame. Earlier this month he was selected by the magazine Business Tennessee as its 2005 CEO of the Year.

“I was certainly surprised to be the cover story,” said Joey. “It’s all of us here who make this work, not just me but the whole company.”

Joey was born in Warren County in 1953 to Carl and Muriel Jacobs. He was one of the many babies delivered by Dr. B.C. Smoot. Joey still has two brothers in the area, Doug and Mike Jacobs. His sister, Abby Hale, lives in Williamson County.

He’s a 1971 Warren County graduate and a 1975 MTSU graduate.

Joey started Franklin-based Psychiatric Solutions in 1997 after over two decades working for HCA. The company now has 13,000 employees and is still growing. Joey says he believes 100 facilities and $2 billion in annual revenue to be realistic goals.

“It’s been great satisfaction to take a business plan that is just your thoughts, go out, raise the initial money, nearly go broke, survive and then become the leader in inpatient behavioral health,” Joey said.

Since the time Psychiatric Solutions began trading shares of its stock in 2002, the value has increased 11-fold from $5.05 to $56 in late October.

I just love reporting on hometown success stories. It’s even more gratifying when the person achieving success maintains his or her down-to-earth manner. Congratulations Joey on CEO of the Year!