M. Anthony Burns
M. Anthony Burns is an American businessman and philanthropist and has sat on the board of directors of several organizations. During his career, he was affiliated with Ryder System, Inc., a Fortune 500 commercial transportation, logistics, and supply chain. He is currently managing owner and chairman of Red Ledges Land Development, Inc. in Heber City, Utah.
Burns was born on November 1, 1942, and raised in Mesquite, Nevada. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a master’s of business administration in 1965 from the University of California, Berkeley. For nine years, he was controller for North America at Mobil Oil Corporation.
He joined Ryder in 1974 and served as president from 1979 to 1999, CEO from 1983 to 2000, and chairman of the board of directors from 1985 to 2002. He retired in 2002 and was chairman emeritus from 2002 to 2013. While with Ryder, he helped the company grow from $500 million in revenue to more than $5 billion. He took the company into more countries, added to the fleet of vehicles, and increased the number of employees. He helped the company become an industry leader by providing a portfolio of global solutions in transportation, distribution, supply chain management and e-commerce.
Burns has served on boards of numerous organizations such as the American Red Cross, the National Urban league, United Way of America, and Boy Scouts of America. He sat on the board of directors of J. C. Penney Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Black & Decker Corporation. He was also chairman of the audit committee for all three. He served on the board of directors of Pfizer from 1988 to 2013, acting as chairman emeritus from 2002 to 2013. He has been a director for Huntsman International LLC and director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Chamber’s Services Industries Council. He is an honorary trustee and former chairman of the National Urban League. He also served as the co-chairman of The Business Roundtable and chairman of its Health and Retirement Task Force. He has been a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum and The Business Council. He served on The Coca-Cola Company’s task force on human resource issues.
He has contributed to higher education at various universities. He served on the national advisory council of the School of Management at BYU, the board of visitors of the Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the board of overseers of the Wharton School. He was an associate trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Life Trustee of the University of Miami.
Burns created scholarship funds at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah, and has endowed four scholarships each at Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah, and Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite, Nevada. He has led many humanitarian, cultural, civic, and industry endeavors, especially in the Miami-Dade area of south Florida. He has been honored numerous times and ways for his humanitarian efforts, including the American Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year for this work following Hurricane Andrew and two honorary doctorate degrees: honorary doctor of public service from Florida International University and honorary doctor of human letters from Florida Memorial University.
Burns is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has served as an Area Seventy in the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy and directed both the Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple open house and the cultural celebration connected with its dedication. He and his wife, Joyce, are the parents of three children.
