[030] Musto Tennessee Insurance Hall of Fame to Induct Rackley July 30

Release date: July 29, 2010


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu

Musto Tennessee Insurance Hall of Fame to Induct Rackley July 30


(MURFREESBORO) — Joseph M. “Joe” Rackley, a veteran member of the insurance industry and a pioneer in the computer era, will be inducted into the Robert E. Musto Tennessee Insurance Hall of Fame Friday, July 30, in Murfreesboro.
The induction ceremony festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, 1200 Conference Center Dr., adjacent to Interstate 24 and Medical Center Parkway.
Rackley will be inducted along with Dan Brooks of Rutledge and Tom McDonald of Franklin.
Rackley, who is from Pulaski and a Giles County High School graduate, holds a bachelor of engineering degree in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University.
“Joe can only be described as a giant in our industry, and when a history of the independent insurance agency system in Tennessee is written, Joe will have his own chapter,” said Dr. Ken Hollman, chairholder of the Martin Chair of Insurance at MTSU.
“To draw a football analogy,” Hollman added, “one might argue that every member of the Tennessee Insurance Hall of Fame is an All-American. However, Joe Rackley stands out even from that distinguished group. He has such impressive credentials that he must be considered a Heisman Trophy candidate.”
Rackley worked in the aerospace industry for 12 years after graduating from Vanderbilt. It was at NASA where he gained the vast programming expertise that proved so valuable later. After that, he assumed his father’s insurance agency in Pulaski and managed it the next eight years.
“Joe Rackley revolutionized an industry,” Hollman said. “From his small family-owned insurance agency office in Pulaski, Joe developed and very successfully marketed a concept that has impacted independent insurance agencies, large and small, in the smallest hamlets and biggest cities in every state of our country.”
Rackley was attending the Insurors Convention in Memphis in 1979 and saw Radio Shack and Canon computers being demonstrated by exhibitors.
“I got excited, came home and couldn’t sleep,” he said, recalling that time. “I went out and bought a Radio Shack Model I and began working on it … nonstop.”
He became so dedicated to learning all about this “new” technology and spent so many hours working on it that employees at his agency nicknamed him “Captain Video.” This was the forerunner of what became the nationally known Rackley Systems Inc.
The ’79 convention allowed Rackley the opportunity to mesh the two interests and two careers together. He was aware of the ever-growing need of rating for independent agents and visionary about the development of the personal computer.
In late 1979, he founded Rackley Systems Inc. He served as president and chairman of the board until the company was sold to AMS in 2003. Rackley Systems provided software solutions to Independent Insurance Agencies and some insurance companies.
The company provided comparative insurance rating software that allowed agents to quickly rate several companies’ premiums for personal and commercial lines. Rackley Systems became the officially endorsed rating system for several Southeastern states, with Tennessee being the first.
The company moved into a 10,000-square foot building in 1994. It had about 130 employees when he sold it. It literally was a family business. Three sons (Matt, David and Bill Rackley), a daughter (Karla Gardner), a brother-in-law and several cousins worked for him. Diane Rackley, Joe’s wife, will attend the induction as well.
Joe Rackley found time to help his community. He was a member of the Pulaski Exchange Club, a member of the SunTrust Bank Board of Directors (since 1997) and a member and president of the St. Barth Condominium Association Board of Directors (starting in 2005). He has a lifelong interest in the Boy Scouts. He was an Eagle Scout (1952) and served as scoutmaster to a troop of 40 boys (six achieved Eagle Scout under his leadership).
He is a longtime member of First United Methodist Church in Pulaski, and served on its financial and long-range planning committees.
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Editor’s note: A high-resolution, black-and-white photo of Joe Rackley is available. Please contact Randy Weiler in the Office of News & Public Affairs by calling 615-898-5616 or e-mail jweiler@mtsu.edu.

With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.

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