Ray C. Anderson is Chairman of Interface, Inc.  In 1997, Ray described his vision for his company – then nearly a quarter-century old – this way:

“If we’re successful, we’ll spend the rest of our days harvesting yester year’s carpets and other petrochemically derived products, and recycling them into new materials; and converting sunlight into energy; with zero scrap going to the landfill and zero emissions into the ecosystem.  And we’ll be doing well … very well … by doing good.  That’s the vision.”

The entrepreneurial drive and competitive spirit that in 1973 drove Ray to found Interface – a company that would revolutionize the modern office environment with its modular carpet tile products – was the same catalyst for an environmental awakening that has once again transformed an industry.  Today, Interface has reduced its environmental footprint more than by one third, 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. 

Ray is recognized as one of the world’s most environmentally progressive industrialists and served as co-chairman of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton administration; was recognized by Mikhail Gorbechev with a Millennium Award from Global Green in September 1996; received the 1996 Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of Year for the Southeast Region and the 1997 Georgia Conservancy’s Conservationist of the Year. 

Ray’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.  In 2002, Ray was honored with the annual ARGON AWARD by Southface Energy Institute and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.  Ray 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.

An industrial engineering honors graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Ray learned the carpet trade through 14-plus years at various positions at Deering-Milliken and Callaway Mills, and in 1973, set about founding a company to produce the first free-lay carpet tiles in America.  He developed a partnership with Britain's Carpets International Plc. that year, set up operations in LaGrange, Georgia, took over Carpets International 10 years later, and today, having relinquished the CEO role in 2001, chairs the world’s largest producer of commercial floorcoverings and one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America, according to FORTUNE magazine in 1997 and 1998.

From corporate offices in Atlanta, Ray oversees a globally positioned company whose core business is still modular soft-surfaced floorcoverings.  Interface has diversified and globalized its businesses, with sales in 110 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents.  In addition to carpet tiles and broadloom carpet marketed under several brands, Interface also manufactures and markets specialty fabrics, and a variety of chemicals used in commercial office installations.

Ray serves on the boards of Melaver, Inc., 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.  He holds honorary doctorates from Northland College (public service), LaGrange College (business), N.C. State University (humane letters) and University of Southern Maine (humane letters).