Joel R. Anderson is director and retired chairman of the Anderson Companies, which include Anderson Media Corporation and its Anderson Merchandisers subsidiary, the country’s largest distributor and merchandiser of pre-recorded music and a major distributor of books; TNT Fireworks, the country’s largest importer and distributor of consumer fireworks; Anderson Press, a major publisher of children’s books and associated children’s products; Whitman Publishing Company, the leading publisher of books and related products for coin collections, and Books-A-Million, the country’s second-largest book retailer.
He also currently serves as a director of Billy Reid, Inc., Elite Medical, Inc., Purchase Activated Apparel Technology, Inc., Performance Healthcare Products, LLC, Publicvine, LLC, Partscycle, LLC, and A-Mark Precious Metals.
Together the Anderson Companies employ more than 17,000 people throughout the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and China.
Anderson was born and raised in Florence, Alabama where he attended the University of North Alabama. He has spent most of his life in the family-owned business established by his late father, Clyde W. Anderson, which evolved from a street corner newsstand.
Anderson has been an active civic and community leader, particularly in efforts to improve lives through education.
He has served his community as director and chairman of the board of Riverhill School and as a board member of the Riverhill School Foundation, as a director of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and the First National Bank, as chairman and founder of the Florence Lauderdale Library Foundation, as chairman of the Shoals Literacy Council, as a director of the YMCA and the Florence-Lauderdale Industrial Expansion Committee.
He also has served as founder, chairman, and director of the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory and as a trustee of the Cardiovascular Institute of Philadelphia. He is on the board of directors of Trump Tower and serves as trustee and president pro tern elect of the University of North Alabama Board of Trustees. Anderson is a board member of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission. He also is a major supporter of the Salvation Army, the United Way of Northwest Alabama, the Florence City Schools Foundation, the Florence Library Foundation, the Children’s Museum of the Shoals, the American Heart Association, the New York City Police Athletic League, and is a charter member of the Norman Swarzkopf Society.
He was chairman of the 2005 Donald Trump Library Benefit Dinner, which raised more than $400,000 for the Florence-Lauderdale Library Foundation.
His philanthropic, civic, and humanitarian activities have been recognized by the Anti-Defamation League which honored him with its Distinguished Service Award on behalf of human rights, and by Brandeis University with its National Distinguished Community Service Award. In 2003 he was the first recipient of the 25 Year Club Frank Herrera Award, a prestigious national magazine industry award and in 2006 was named Shoals Citizen of the Year. Earlier this year, Mr. Anderson received the Lifetime Achievement in Innovation award from the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.
He and his wife Carmen have a daughter, Kristen, and a son, Joel II. Mr. Anderson’s daughter Ashley has a son and two daughters.
