M. Anthony Burns (born November 1, 1942) is an American businessman and chairman emeritus of the board of directors of

Ryder Ryder System, Inc. is an American transportation and logistics company, specializing in truck rental and leasing, fleet management, supply chain management, and transportation management. It also offers full-service leasing, rental and maint ...

, a United States-based provider of transportation and supply chain management products. Burns is also managing owner and chairman of Red Ledges in

Heber City, Utah Heber City is a city and county seat of Wasatch County, Utah. The population was 16,856 as of the 2020 United States census. The city is located 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. History Heber City was first settled in 1859 by Robert Broad ...

, a corporate director at

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

and

Huntsman Corporation Huntsman Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of chemical products for consumers and industrial customers. Huntsman manufactures assorted polyurethanes, performance products, and adhesives for customers like BMW, ...

, and a life

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Early life and education

Burns was born on November 1, 1942, in

Mesquite, Nevada Mesquite is a city located in the northeast corner of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States adjacent to the Arizona state line and northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Nevada, Interstate 15. As of the 2020 United State ...

. He attended

Utah Tech University Utah Tech University (UT), formerly named Dixie State University (DSU), is a polytechnic four-year public university in St. George, Utah, in southwest Utah (also known by the longtime nickname of " Utah's Dixie" region). UT offers doctoral degre ...

(then Dixie State College) in nearby

St. George, Utah St. George or Saint George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George metropolitan statistical area (MSA). The cit ...

on a baseball scholarship and then transferred to

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

, where he received a B.S. in 1964. In 1965, he received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in 1965 from the

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business (branded as Berkeley Haas) is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a Public university, public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a pub ...

Career

Burns joined the

finance organization in 1974, and in 1979 was elected Ryder's president and COO. He was later elected

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

in January 1983 and chairman of the board of directors in May 1985. He retired from his position with Ryder System, Inc. in 2002. Throughout his tenure, Burns helped Ryder to grow from $500 million in revenue to more than $5 billion. When Burns joined Ryder in 1974, the company primarily focused on truck leasing and rental, owning a fleet of about 50,000 vehicles and employing 13,000 workers in three countries. At Burns's retirement in 2002, Ryder had a fleet of more than 170,000 vehicles for commercial truck leasing and rental, had 30,000 employees in more than a dozen countries on four continents and had expanded into logistics. Before joining Ryder, Burns was Comptroller for North America at

Mobil Oil Corporation Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...

. He formerly served on the board of directors of J. P. Morgan Chase & Co.,

Stanley Black & Decker Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a ''Fortune'' 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware, and a provider of security products. Headquartered in the Greater Hartford city of Ne ...

and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. and was chairman of the audit committee for all three. Burns also served as the director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Chamber's Services Industries Council. Burns also served on the national boards of United Way of America,

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

National Urban League The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...

and

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

, as well as on the Board of the Directors of the Foundation for the

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellen ...

. He is an honorary trustee and former chairman of the National Urban League. He also served as the co-chairman of

The Business Roundtable The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major U.S. companies. Unlike the United States Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, B ...

and chairman of its Health and Retirement Task Force, as a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum, as a member of The Business Council, and on The Coca-Cola Company's task force on human resource issues. In the South Florida community, Burns was chairman of the Capital Campaign for the Performing Arts Center of Greater Miami and formerly served as board chairman and campaign chairman of the United Way of Miami-Dade County and president of the

South Florida Council The South Florida Council is a 501(c)(3) organization chartered by the Boy Scouts of America to serve Broward County, Broward, Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade, and Monroe County, Florida, Monroe Counties in South Florida. As of 2022, the South Flor ...

of the

. Burns has also served on the national advisory council of the School of Management of

, the board of visitors of the Graduate School of Business Administration of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

and the board of overseers of the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

. He was an associate trustee of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Philanthropy

Burns has led many humanitarian, cultural, civic and industry endeavors throughout his career, especially in the Miami-Dade area of

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. Burns chaired the capital campaign for the

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is a performing arts center located in Miami, Florida. It is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. According to Arts Management Magazine, the Arsht C ...

for 17 years, leading an effort that raised $415 million (including more than $1 million that he personally gave). While at Ryder, he oversaw donations for the construction of the Ryder Trauma Center at

Jackson Memorial Hospital Jackson Memorial Hospital, also referred to as Jackson or abbreviated MJMH, is a non-profit, tertiary care hospital, and the primary teaching hospital of the University of Miami's School of Medicine. As of 2021, it is the largest hospital in t ...

and the Ryder Center Arena (now the

BankUnited Center The Watsco Center (originally named the University of Miami Convocation Center) is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The venue hosts concerts, family shows, trade shows, lecture se ...

) at the

, and he coordinated Ryder's sponsorship of the Doral Ryder Open for 16 years. He also created scholarship funds at

, which to date have provided more than 100 scholarships, and has endowed four scholarships each at Wasatch High School in

, and

Virgin Valley High School Virgin Valley High School is a high school in Mesquite, Nevada under the jurisdiction of the Clark County School District. Up until the opening of Beaver Dam High School in Beaver Dam, Arizona in the fall of 2004, high school students from the L ...

Personal life

Burns is married to the former Joyce Jordan. They have three children and six grandchildren. He is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) and has served in leadership roles in the church including

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and

stake president A stake is an administrative unit composed of multiple congregations in certain denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name "stake" derives from the Book of Isaiah: "enlarge the place of thy tent; stretch forth the curtains of thine ha ...

. He recently served as an

area seventy Seventy is a priesthood office in the Melchizedek priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Traditionally, a church member holding this priesthood office is a "traveling minister" and an "especial witness" of J ...

in the church's Sixth Quorum of the Seventy. Burns was serving as an LDS Church bishop in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

when

Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a compact, but very powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It was the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures dama ...

hit in 1992, destroying much of his neighborhood. With extensive destruction surrounding him, Burns went out to the front lines and joined the work crews in repairing roofs. He also made the lobby of Ryder's corporate headquarters available to United Way. Making many donations such as food and clothing to charitable agencies, Burns also provided Ryder's trucks to people who needed to transport themselves and possessions to safer, drier places. With his approval, Ryder also donated $2.5 million to rebuild the Miami-Dade County after Hurricane Andrew's destruction and allowed Ryder employees to work half days at the company and half days in the rescue effort. Burns was recognized as the American Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year for this work following Hurricane Andrew. Several facilities, centers and other education resources at various institutions are named in honor of M. Anthony Burns in recognition of donations or other assistance during construction: * The

Burns Arena Burns Arena is a multi-purpose arena in St. George, Utah. It is the home of the Utah Tech Trailblazers basketball teams.

* The Joyce and M. Anthony Burns Science Building at

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is an botanic garden with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including Arecaceae, palms, cycads, flowering trees, and vines. It is located in the city of Coral Gables, Florida, Coral Gables, Miami-D ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

* The Burns Green Room at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida * The M. Anthony Burns Center for Advanced Supply Chain Management at the

* The M. Anthony Burns/Ryder System Inc. Endowed Teaching Chair at

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (MDC) is a public university, public college located in Miami, Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1959, MDC operates eight campuses and numerous outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade Count ...

Awards

;Humanitarian Burns has been awarded the Jay W. Weiss Humanitarian Award by the Jackson Memorial Foundation, the Robert W. Laidlaw Humanitarian Award by the Epilepsy Foundation of South Florida, the Sand In My Shoes award by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and the Community Service Award by the Advertising Federation of Greater Miami. ;Business Burns was named CEO of the decade in Transportation: Freight & Leasing by Financial World and is a three-time recipient of CEO of the Year in Transportation: Freight & Leasing. He was also named the International Executive of the Year by the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and Business Leader of the Century by Brigham Young University—Idaho. Other awards Burns has received include: Business * South Florida Business Hall of Fame (Florida Council on Economic Education) * Junior Achievement's Business Leadership Hall of Fame * Business Leader of the Year (

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

) * Joseph Wharton Business Statesman Award (Wharton School Club) * Marketer of the Year (Academy of Marketing Science) * Leslie Pantin, Sr. Leadership Award (Coalition of Hispanic American Women) Education * Honorary doctor of public service degree from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

* Honorary doctor of humane letters degree from

Florida Memorial University Florida Memorial University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black college in Miami Gardens, Florida. Founded as the Florida Baptist Institute, today it claims a focus on broader Christ ...

(formerly Florida Memorial College) * Haas School of Business Hall of Fame (University of California, Berkeley) * Charter Member of the Utah Tech University Hall of Fame (Formerly Dixie State University) * Outstanding Alumnus (American Association of Community Colleges) * Wall of Fame (Mesquite, Nev.) * Jesse Knight Industrial Citizenship Award (Brigham Young University) Scouting * Silver Buffalo Award (Boy Scouts of America) *

Silver Beaver The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of Scouting America. Recipients of the award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council. Those deemed ...

(Boy Scouts of America) * Good Scout Award (Boy Scouts of America) Miscellaneous * Silver Medallion (

National Conference for Community and Justice The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures. The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...

- formerly National Conference of Christian and Jews) * Americanism Award ( Anti-Defamation League) * Equal Opportunity Day Award (

) * Robie Award for Achievement in Industry (

Jackie Robinson Foundation The Jackie Robinson Foundation is a national, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which gives scholarships to minority youths for higher education, as well as preserves the legacy of Baseball Hall of Fame member Jackie Robinson. The foundation ...

) * Boneh Yisroel (Builder of Israel) Award (Greater Miami Jewish Federation) * Spirit of Excellence (

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe countie ...

) * Torchbearer,

2002 Olympic Winter Games The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international winter multi-sport event that was he ...

* Free Enterpriser of the Year (Florida Council on Economic Education)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, M. Anthony 1942 births American transportation businesspeople American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Area seventies (LDS Church) Brigham Young University alumni Utah Tech University alumni Haas School of Business alumni Living people University of Miami people American chief operating officers People from Mesquite, Nevada Latter Day Saints from Nevada Latter Day Saints from Florida Latter Day Saints from Utah