Ray Anderson is the senior vice president of football operations for the National Football League (NFL).
A Los Angeles, California native, Anderson was an All-League high school quarterback and shortstop. As a scholarship athlete, he was a three-year football letterman and two-year baseball letterman at Stanford University. Anderson earned a BA in political science from Stanford in 1976 and a jurist doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 1979.
Anderson joined the NFL after a four-year stint as the vice president of the Atlanta Falcons. Before taking the job with the Falcons, he represented a number of players and coaches, including current coaches Tony Dungy of the Colts and Dennis Green of the Cardinals. He began his professional career as an attorney at Kilpatrick & Cody in Atlanta, Georgia and worked primarily in labor law litigation.
Anderson's entrance into sports occurred when he co-founded the sports law practice at Heller, Ehrman, a prominent San Francisco firm, in 1980. He entered the sports agency business in 1984 when he opened the West Coast office for Sports Advisors Group. In 1987, he launched his own agency, AR Sports, specializing in the representation of NFL coaches and players and later adding Major League Baseball players. Anderson merged his agency with Octagon in 2001.
In November of 2002, Anderson's highly respected reputation was recognized when he was named to the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity, which is a comprehensive program to promote diversity in coaching and front office ranks. His influence was further solidified when he was named to Sports Illustrated's list of the "101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports" in May of 2003. Anderson was also distinguished locally by being named to the prestigious "100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc.", a group dedicated to providing support and improving the quality of life for African-Americans, in particular, in the Atlanta community. In February of 2004, he was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue to the Board of Governors of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. His past accolades include garnering agent of the year honors by the Black Sports Agents Association in 2000.
He and his wife, Buffie, have one son, Bryant, and one daughter, Kimberly. The Andersons reside in Roswell, Georgia.
