Charles Anderson, CEO of Anderson Media, the nation’s largest magazine and book distribution company, enrolled at UT on an athletic scholarship in 1972. He was a three-year letterman in football and earned the baccalaureate degree in business administration, majoring in marketing in 1976. Upon graduation he joined Anderson News Company, the family’s book and magazine distribution business, headquartering it in Knoxville.
Anderson News was founded in 1917 and is allied with other major companies such as Books-A-Million and Magazine.com as an affiliate through common ownership. In 1994 Anderson became president and CEO of the company. Also in 1994 the Anderson family entered the music distribution business with the acquisition of Western Merchandisers (renamed Anderson Merchandisers), which is the nation’s largest distributor of prerecorded music. In 1998 ARAMARK merged its magazine and book distribution business into Anderson News. Anderson grew the company from a small magazine distributor to a national multimedia entertainment company with over ten thousand employees.
Anderson has served as chairman of the board of the Country Music Association and served on the UT Athletics Board. He is also active in local endeavors such as the East Tennessee Community Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club. In 2005 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UT College of Business. In 2007 Governor Phil Bredesen appointed him to the UT Board of Trustees.