James B. Anderson has been a member of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission since 2001. He was named chairman of the Commission in 2007. His term expires in March 2009. He also serves on the Missouri Department of Transportation and Highway Patrol Employees’ Retirement System Board of Trustees.

Anderson is president of the Springfield, Missouri, Area Chamber of Commerce, a position he has held since 1988. Before joining the Springfield Chamber, Anderson served for nine years as president of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce. Prior to that, he served as an administrator and teacher in the Jefferson City Public Schools.

Anderson served as chairman of the Chamber’s national professional organization, the American Chamber of Commerce Executives from 1994 to 1995 and received the ACCE Chairman’s Professional Leadership Award in 1992.

Anderson is a past president of the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Missouri, and was presented CCEM’s Top Level Award in 1989.

Anderson was appointed by Gov. Mel Carnahan to the Missouri Business Council in 1993 and to the Total Transportation Commission in 1996.

A former member of the board of trustees of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management, Anderson is also a former member and past chairman of the board of regents of the Southern Methodist University Institute for Organization Management.

In addition to his national and state level involvement, Anderson is active in the Springfield community. He served as chairman of United Way of the Ozarks and president of Urban Districts Alliance. A member of Springfield Rotary Club, he is a past chairman of the Community Relations Board for the U. S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners. Anderson is a member of First and Calvary Presbyterian Church and recently served as chairman of its capital campaign.

A native of Ozark, Missouri, Anderson is a 1971 graduate of Southwest Missouri State University. He is also a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In 2002, Drury University awarded him the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. The year before, he was named by Southwest Missouri State University as one of three “Outstanding Alumni.”

Anderson and his wife, Janet, have two children.