A forty-year resident of San Juan Island, Charles Anderson served as the Foundation’s chairman for 12 years. During his tenure, annual grants to the community have grown by an average of 50 times. In 2018 the Board honored his dedicated service by naming him chairman emeritus.
In 1976 Charles founded Cogent Data Technologies, a successful computer hardware networking company headquartered in Friday Harbor with offices in Seattle, Europe and the Far East. He sold the privately held company in 1996 and ‘retired’.
Charles was educated at M.I.T (BSEE) and attained a PhD in Physiology and Molecular Biophysics from The University of Washington. As the guest of a Nobel Prize recipient in neurophysiology, Charles spent several years overseas involved in postdoctoral research at the University of Leiden and University College London.
Charles was the founding chairman of the Peace Island Medical Center Board of Directors and co-directed the $10.5million capital campaign to improve access to healthcare for islanders through the Community Foundation. The Cancer Care Center is named after his former wife Deanna, whose passing served as an inspiration to create the hospital.
Charles also serves as a co-founder of the Pacific Northwest Institute for Music, Creativity and Expression, a start-up nonprofit, which will support and enrich the creativity of artists and scholars. He also serves on the investment committee of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado. In his younger days, Charles was a pilot, a sailor and mountain climber. He is an avid skier and an active philanthropist.