He began his 36-year career with Maryland based R/C Theatres in 1970 when he began managing the circuit's Stonewall venue. The following year he was promoted to district manager a position he retained until his 1976 promotion to R/C Theatres Vice-President of Operations. Assuming in 1983 title of President of Company Operations, Anderson contributed heavily to a subsequent program of construction and refurbishment that helped expand the regional theatre circuit into one of the 30 largest chains in North America. He became President and CEO of R/C Theatres in 1993. In 1994, 1997 and again in 2005 R/C sold screens to Regal. After the sale in 2005 Anderson assumed the role of Chairman of R/C theatres. R/C currently has 86 screens.
A long acknowledged leader in the technological arena, Anderson is known for building technically correct cinemas. He has served as Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners' (NATO) Technical Advancement and Codes Committees, and created a Blue Ribbon Committee of experts from both distribution and exhibition to address technical issues. He supervised the successful completion of NATO's extended length reel study and organized the first ever symposium on electronic high-definition super highway for movie theatres in 1994. He was instrumental in organizing demonstrations of digital cinema capabilities for both NATO and ShoWest. In the fall of 2005 he accepted the voluntary position of Managing Director of the Cinema Buying Group to assist independent theatre operators with the conversion to digital cinema and equipment purchases.
A member of SMPTE, a member of The Inter-Society Committee for the Enhancement of Motion Picture Presentation; he has also served as its Secretary/Treasurer (1997-99) President (1999-2002) and Chairman (2002-2004). Anderson also serves on the Board of Directors and on the Executive Committee for nato, and serves on the Board of Directors for NATO of Maryland and Virginia.
Anderson was the recipient of the Award of Commendation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2007) for his work on the industry-wide conversion to cyan dye track. He was named ShoWester 2007 alongside his wife MaryAnn -- the first time in the convention's history to name a couple as the recipient of the industry's highest honor. In addition, Anderson has been awarded the Ken Mason Award (InterSociety 2003), the B.V. Sturdivant Award (1997) and the NATO Medal of Honor (1996).
Academy Award of Commendation 2006: For their contributions to the environmentally responsible industry conversion from silver-based to cyan dye analog soundtracks. (w. Ioan R. Allen, Mary Ann Anderson, Ted Costas, Paul R. Goldberg, Shawn Jones, Tom Kuhn, Dr. Alan Masson, Colin Mossman, Martin Richards, Frank Ricotta and Richard C. Sehlin - Winners presented Special Awards)
1 Scientific/Technical Award