Brad Anderson

The former CEO and vice-chairman of electronics retailer Best Buy. He joined the company in Minneapolis in 1973 when it was called Sound of Music and served as CEO from 2002-2009.

Anderson preached the philosophy of customer-centricity developed by Larry Selden, a Columbia Business School professor. Customer-centricity involves segmenting customers into "profitable" and "unprofitable" and then catering to the profitable ones by tailoring each store location to a particular demographic.

He also helped the company to expand overseas and shift its focus from selling electronics to meeting customer needs related to electronics, such as computer repair and home networking. He doubled the company’s revenue during his tenure and increased its profits by an average of 17% per year.

Founded in 1966 (as Sound of Music), Best Buy has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Mexico and Turkey. Its brands include Audiovisions, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales and The Phone House. Best Buy’s competitors include Wal-Mart, Costco, Dell, Radio Shack, Amazon and Target.