Chr i s Ande r son 30,000-Foot View For Chris Anderson, CEO of Boston-based supplier HPG, the to-do list is never ending. But as a recreational pilot, Anderson knows how to focus on what’s important. In the first year of his PPAI Board of Directors term in 2022, Anderson wants to use his focus to help steer the industry toward growth. by Kristina Valdez Growing up, Chris Anderson’s favorite thing to do was park at the end of a runway and watch planes take off and land with his dad. “I grew up in a family who didn’t have a lot of resources, so they had to get creative when entertaining us kids,” Anderson says. “I used to dream about what it would be like to be one of the passengers or—better yet—one of the pilots.” Soon, he was reading any book he could find about aviation. “I got my first job as a teenager to support flying lessons. I ended up soloing on my 16th birthday,” Anderson says. “For as long as I could remember, aviation has been my muse.” But there came a time when he had to take a break. He says, “I was a young father and ultimately, a businessperson responsible for building a company. There was a key man insurance policy that kept me from flying for about 10 years. Back in 2016, I was CEO of another company that sold to Energizer, the battery company. “When the transaction closed, I did two things immediately. The first was taking a big breath because it represented the end of a marathon that had been at a sprinter’s pace for the better part of 15 years; and, next, I put down a deposit on a plane.” Since then, Anderson has piloted a variety of planes. “From a Cirrus SR22 Turbo to a Piper M600. They all have their specific purposes. The Cirrus is more of a short- to intermediate-range airplane. It’s just a pleasure to fly. It’s the one I’d take on a Saturday afternoon withmy son, who is also a pilot, and have some fun flying to the different airports around the region. But when I’m traveling across the country, the Piper M600 is a jet-fueled plane that can cruise to nearly airliner altitudes, and really cover some ground.” Whenever he can get a chance, Anderson is in the air. Once a month, he visits HPG’s creative center facility sumroeng chinnapan./.Nadezda Murmakova / shutterstock.com 50 | JULY 2022 | GROW
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