Dr. Joel Norman Myers (born November 3, 1939) is an American meteorologist and businessman who is the founder and executive chairman of AccuWeather, a U.S.-based commercial weather service and media company.
Background
Myers is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in meteorology from Penn State in 1961, 1963, and 1971, respectively. He founded AccuWeather in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1962 while a second year graduate student in meteorology at Penn State. He launched AccuWeather with one client and grew the company to a revenue of more than $100 million.
Myers was on the faculty of Penn State from 1964 until 1981 as instructor, lecturer, and assistant professor; he estimates that by the time he retired from teaching, he had taught weather forecasting to approximately 17% of all practicing meteorologists in the United States. Additionally, he was on the Pennsylvania State University board of trustees for 33 years, and continues as an Emeritus Trustee. Myers was the 2017 Renaissance Fund honoree. and the National Weather Association’s 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, in addition to numerous other accolades. He is a trustee of the board of directors for the Committee for Economic Development (CED), where he is also on the education subcommittee, and he is a Fellow of the Nantucket Project.
In 2007, Myers appointed his younger brother, Barry Lee Myers, a business attorney, as AccuWeather's chief executive officer. The younger Myers was nominated by President Donald Trump to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in October 2017. Myers returned as CEO in 2019 following his brother's departure from the company. In June 2023, Myers stepped down as CEO to become Founder and Executive Chair.
Publications
In 2024, Myers published Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Shaped History. The book covers the impact of weather and climate on world events throughout history. The book was released in paperback in 2025.
Philanthropy
Myers has made several philanthropic contributions to Pennsylvania State University, including a multimillion-dollar gift to the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences for the Joel N. Myers Weather Center, and funding for scholarships in meteorology and in information sciences and technology. He has also supported the installation of weather-themed sculptures on campus, including sundials at the Nittany Lion Inn and the Arboretum at Penn State, and the Nittany Lion weather vane atop Beaver Stadium.
Political activities
Myers supported the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, a bill introduced by U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) that would have prohibited the National Weather Service from publishing weather data to the public when private-sector entities, such as AccuWeather, perform the same function commercially. Myers has been a long-time large donor to the Republican Party, its candidates, and to Santorum, a former home-state Senator.
Controversies
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs compiled a report by federal investigators that started after a complaint filed Sept. 6, 2016, alleging a "hostile work environment and termination based on sexual orientation and sex." The investigators found rampant workplace sexual harassment and female employees receiving favors while having sexual relations with their supervisors, including an unnamed executive. The report found Accuweather "did not take reasonable action to prevent and remedy harassing conduct." Joel Myers, who was president of Accuweather during the period covered by the agreement, signed a settlement where AccuWeather agrees to pay out $290,000 to at least 39 women, institute in-person training for managers to identify harassment, and send harassment complaints to a 3rd party till at least 2018.