Richard E. Ray

Tennessee Operations Manager, Aluminum Company of America (retired)

Education

• B.S. 1953, Metallurgical Engineering, University of Alabama

Following his graduation, Richard Ray joined the U.S. Army and served as a 1st Lieutenant in Korea. In 1953, he began working for the Aluminum Company of America’s (ALCOA) Tennessee Operation. He later held metallurgical and management positions in Davenport, Iowa; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Point Henry, Australia. In 1977, he began his tenure as operations manager of the ALCOA Tennessee Operation. During his 15-year tenure as manager of one of ALCOA’s largest and oldest plant locations, the company invested more than $400 million in modernizing the East Tennessee aluminum making and fabricating complex. Completed in mid-1990, the program resulted in the most modern aluminum rolling facility in the world.

Ray is currently a member and past chair of the Tennessee State Board of Education and serves on the College of Arts and Science’s Board of Associates at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also chair of the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont and a member-at-large of the Knoxville Symphony Board of Directors. In the past, he served as a board member of North American Royalty Co., First Tennessee Bank’s Knoxville Region, and First Tennessee National Corporation.

Over the years, Ray has been an active civic figure serving as vice chairman for economic development while on the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce and as former chairman of the finance committee for the board at Maryville College. He is a former board member for the Knoxville Museum of Art, the East Tennessee Foundation, Thompson Cancer Center, and Junior Achievement of Greater Knoxville. Ray also served as president of the Great Smoky Mountain Council and was involved in the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority and Boy Scouts of America. In 2008, he received a Community Caring Award from the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville.

In 1990, Ray was named UT Volunteer of the Year. He served as an original advisory board member for the College of Arts and Sciences, participated on the UT Development Council, and is a past chairman of the Chancellor’s Associates at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.