Joe Swisher taught general and choral music to over 20,000 students in four Berkeley County Schools for 31 years before retiring in 2018 to pursue a second career as a Realtor. A National Board-certified teacher, he led a large award-winning choral program at College Park Middle school for 4 years. He has also directed Berkeley County's talented and gifted choral program each summer for most of his career. Joe has written, won, and administered several large grants for his programs through the years. He has been elected Teacher of the Year by his peers twice. Joe has mentored several student teachers and is proud of the remarkable number of his former students who currently teach music throughout the Lowcountry and beyond.

Joe grew up in West Virginia where he earned a Bachelor of Education from West Virginia University and later studied school administration at Charleston Southern University. Additionally, he served as Music Director of Peace Presbyterian Church in Goose Creek for 25 years before retiring in 2020.  Joe was a member of Summerville Presbyterian Church from 1988 to 1995 where he was an ordained elder leading the worship and music committee, sang in the choir, played handbells, volunteered to lead children’s choirs and often sang solos.  He sang in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Singers' Guild for many years. Joe has sung with the Singers of Summerville since 2010, and served as the assistant director and enjoyed the stage at the James F. Dean Theatre as Music Director and performer for the summer benefit performances of “From the Front Lines to the Home Front”.

Joe has diverse interests, from music and real estate to technology to motorcycles, but his greatest joy comes from time with his wife, Carol, and his three grown children. Rebecca is a first-grade teacher in Berkeley County, his son, Joey, is a physician in New Orleans and Cara is a mental health counselor who coordinates children’s foster care.