Since the days after Ray Anderson's graduation from the Georgia Institute of Technology as an industrial engineer, Ray Anderson has applied his entrepreneurial spirit to building one of the world's largest interior furnishings companies. Mr. Anderson and his company revolutionized the commercial floorcovering industry by producing America's first free-lay carpet tiles. Now, Ray Anderson has embarked on a mission to "be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so, to become restorative through the power of influence." He's leading a worldwide effort to pioneer the processes of sustainable development.

Ray Anderson learned the carpet and textile businesses through 14-plus years in various positions at Deering-Milliken and Callaway Mills, and in 1973, set about founding a company to adapt European technology to produce free-lay carpet tiles in America. Ray Anderson developed a partnership with Britain's Carpets International Plc. that year and set up operations in LaGrange, Georgia. Ten years later, his company took over Carpets International. Today, it is the world leader in the design, production and sales of modular carpet, and a leading producer of broadloom carpet and commercial fabrics.
The entrepreneurial drive and competitive spirit that in 1973 drove Ray Anderson to found his outstanding company was the same catalyst for an environmental awakening that has once again transformed an industry. Today, Ray Anderson stands at the forefront of a new industrial revolution. His company has reduced its environmental footprint significantly, redesigning processes and products, pioneering new technologies and reducing or eliminating waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and sources of energy.

From corporate offices in Atlanta, Ray Anderson serves as Founder and Chairman of a globally positioned company whose core business is still modular soft-surfaced floorcoverings. Ray Anderson has diversified and globalized its businesses, with sales in more than 100 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents. In addition to carpet tiles and broadloom carpet marketed under several brands, Anderson's company also manufactures commercial panel and upholstery fabrics.

While Ray Anderson is noted in his industry for his commitment to high quality design and innovation, the company is recognized as a leader in the green business movement. Inspired chiefly by Paul Hawken's treatise, The Ecology of Commerce, Ray heightened the company's awareness and led changes in technology in an effort to move toward being environmentally sustainable. Admittedly, the company is not there yet; however, the company is developing processes and technologies to get it there. What this means, primarily, is learning to harness solar, wind, biomass and other forms of green energy and providing raw material needs by harvesting and recycling carpet and other petrochemical products, while eliminating waste and harmful emissions from its operations. Ray Anderson believes that if his company, a petro-intensive company, can get it right, it will never have to take another drop of oil from the earth. The philosophy guiding Ray's passion for this cause is simply that it is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing, too.

Because the commitment Ray Anderson's company has made is so unique, the community has embraced the company and lauded its efforts. Today, Ray is recognized as one of the world’s most environmentally progressive leaders on sustainable commerce, having served as co-chairman of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton administration; being recognized by Mikhail Gorbachev with a Millennium Award from Global Green in September 1996; receiving in 1996 the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year for the Southeast Region and in 1997 as the Georgia Conservancy's Conservationist of the Year. Ray Anderson's honors also include the prestigious George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development, presented in 2001; the SAM-SPG Sustainability Leadership Award of 2001; the U.S. Green Building Council’s Inaugural Leadership Award, 2002; and the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award for Corporate Leadership, 2002. Ray Anderson was named a Senior Fellow and Leading Voice for Green and Sustainable Design by the Design Futures Council in 2003, and also received the IIDA Star Award. In 2004, he was honored with the National Ethics Advocate Award from The Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. In 2005 he received the Harvard Business School Atlanta Alumni Club’s Community Leadership Award, as well as a Corporate Ally Award from Possible Woman Enterprises.

Ray Anderson serves on the boards of The Natural Step, USA; The Georgia Conservancy; Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper; Ida Cason Callaway Foundation; Rocky Mountain Institute; the University of Texas Center for Sustainable Development, and is an honorary advisor to the President of Peking University. Ray Anderson holds honorary doctorates from Northland College (public service), LaGrange College (business), N.C. State University (humane letters) and University of Southern Maine (humane letters).