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Best Buy’s Brad Anderson Leaving The Board

Brad Anderson, Best Buy’s onetime president, COO, vice chairman and CEO, is stepping down from his board-of-directors’ duties in June.

In an 8-K filing, Best Buy said Anderson declined to stand for re-election for personal reasons, and would retire from the board following the company’s shareholders’ meeting on June 14.

Anderson, who had been a director from 1986 through 2010, rejoined the board three years ago this month as part of a peace pact with Best Buy founder and former chairman Dick Schulze. Schulze, now chairman emeritus, had attempted a hostile takeover of the business following his ouster over prior knowledge of improprieties by ex-CEO Brian Dunn.

See:How Best Buy’s Old Guard Returned To The Board

Under terms of the deal, presented as an olive branch by then newly installed president/CEO Hubert Joly, Schulze was entitled to nominate two directors until he reached the age of 75 — a milestone he passed in January.

Anderson, who forged a friendship with Joly back when the Frenchman was running Vivendi’s video game business, was credited with fomenting the reconciliation with Schulze.

More than that, it was during his tenure as CEO that the specialty chain expanded overseas and more than doubled its size to over 1,000 stores and $40 billion in annual revenue.

Anderson joined the company in 1973 as a salesman at Best Buy precursor Sound of Music. By 1991 he was president and COO, named vice chairman in 2001, and was promoted to CEO in 2002, a position he would hold for the next seven years before relinquishing the reins to Dunn.

“I would like to thank Brad for his many years of dedicated service to Best Buy and its shareholders,” Joly said in a statement. “His knowledge of the company, its culture and its unique role in the consumer electronics marketplace has been invaluable to me and the executive team as we transformed this company. All of us will miss having him on the board, but we know he remains a passionate and loyal supporter of the company he was so instrumental in building.”

See:TWICE Salutes Brad Anderson

Added Anderson: “It has been a tremendous experience to rejoin the board and work with Hubert and his leadership team on what has been a remarkable transformation of the company. I leave the board with great optimism for the future of Best Buy and will continue to be one of its biggest fans.”

He was succeeded yesterday by Claudia Munce, an advisor at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, who will stand for election in June.

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