Charles A. Anderson (November 14, 1917 – April 17, 2009) was the CEO and president of

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...

from 1968 to 1980.

Early life and education

Anderson was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 14, 1917; his family moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

not long thereafter. Anderson graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1938 with a bachelor of science in chemistry, and then graduated from Harvard Business School in 1940 with a master's of business administration.

Early career

After graduating from Harvard, Anderson married Betty Rushforth in 1942 and served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

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. Upon his return from the war, he was an assistant professor of business administration at Harvard. In 1948, Anderson moved back to California, and was a vice president of Magna Power Tool Company, which was purchased by Yuba Consolidated Industries in 1958. From 1958 to 1961, he joined the

Stanford Business School The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

as the department's associate dean and a professor of business administration.

Later career

In 1961, he became the vice president of finance for Kern Country Land Company. He was subsequently the CEO of Kern Country's subsidiaries Walker Manufacturing and J.I. Case. Kern Country was purchased by

Tenneco Tenneco (formerly Tenneco Automotive and originally Tennessee Gas Transmission Company) is an American automotive components original equipment manufacturer and an aftermarket ride control and emissions products manufacturer. It is a Fortune 5 ...

in August 1967. In 1968, Anderson became the CEO of

, a position he held until his retirement in 1980. Anderson was also on numerous corporate boards, including Conoco,

Boise Cascade Boise Cascade Company (), which uses the trade name Boise Cascade, is a North American manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, headquartered in Boise, Idaho. with sales over $7.9 billion in 2021, it is trad ...

, Eaton Corporation, NCR Corporation, Owens Corning, Saga Foods (purchased by

Marriott Corporation Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993, founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, Marriott Corporation opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, ...

), and Kansai Research Institute (now KRI, Inc.).

Awards and memberships

Anderson served on the Air Force Systems Command Board of Visitors, and was given an

Air Force Exceptional Service Award Awards and decorations of the United States Department of the Air Force are military decorations which are issued by the Department of the Air Force to airmen of the United States Air Force and guardians of the United States Space Force and members ...

as a result. He was also named Bay Area Harvard Business School Business Statesman of the Year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Charles 1917 births 2009 deaths SRI International people UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Harvard Business School alumni