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Ray Anderson, Interface, Inc.

Since the days after his graduation from Georgia Institute of Technology as an industrial engineer, Ray Anderson has quietly gone about fostering an entrepreneurial spirit that has resulted in his building one of the world's largest commercial interior furnishings companies.

After founding Interface in 1973, Ray and his company have revolutionized the carpet and floor covering industry. Now, Ray has embarked on a mission to make Interface a sustainable corporation by leading a worldwide war on waste and pioneering the processes of sustainable development.

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, and took over Carpets International 10 years later.

Today, the company Ray founded is the world's largest producer of commercial carpet.

From his corporate offices in Atlanta, Ray oversees a global company whose core business is still modular carpet. Named one of America's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 1997 and 1998 by FORTUNE magazine, 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 interior fabrics and specialty products such as raised access flooring, as well as a variety of adhesives and cleaning products used in commercial office installations.