Bradbury "Brad" Anderson (born 1949) is the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and vice chairman of the American consumer electronics retailer

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Sheridan, Wyoming Sheridan is a town in the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Sheridan County. The town is located halfway between Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore by U.S. Route 14 and 16. It is the principal town of the Sheridan, Wyoming, Micropol ...

, Anderson received an

Associate of Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

from

Waldorf College Waldorf University is a private for-profit university in Forest City, Iowa. It was founded in 1903 and associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its predecessors. In 2010, it was sold to Columbia Southern University and becam ...

and a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

Career

In 1973, Anderson joined Sound of Music, a small chain of stereo stores that was the precursor to Best Buy, as a commissioned salesman. Best Buy's founder, Richard Schulze, named him vice president in 1981. In subsequent years, Schulze and Anderson turned the chain from a commission-driven store to a discount store, warehouse-style format. In 1986, Anderson was promoted to executive vice president and was elected to Best Buy's board of directors. In April 1991, he was promoted to president and

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

, vice chairman in 2001 and, in June 2002, he assumed the position of chief executive officer. In June 2009, he was succeeded by Brian J. Dunn who had been president and

. Anderson is on the

Board of Regents and the

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

board of directors. He is also on the board of

PragerU PragerU is an American advocacy group that creates videos promoting a conservative viewpoint on various political, economic, and sociological topics. It was co-founded by Allen Estrin and talk show host and writer Dennis Prager in 2009. Despi ...

, a website that produces education videos from a very conservative viewpoint.

Compensation

In the 2006 fiscal year, he received a salary of $1,164,283 and a bonus of $2,692,250. His annual compensation for the 2007 fiscal year was $5.6 million, including $1,172,995 in salary, plus $2,650,969 in incentive-plan compensation. In 2008, he was paid $49.3 million in total compensation, $1,172,995 in salary, $1,994,092 in incentive-plan compensation, stock awards of $413,635 and no option awards, and $46.08 million in value from exercising 1.05 million stock options.

References

External links

Biography at Best Buy website
American retail chief executives Living people 1949 births University of Denver alumni Best Buy people 20th-century American businesspeople American chief operating officers {{US-business-bio-1940s-stub