Kelly was raised in an Air Force family with two older and one younger sister. His dad was a linguist in the Security Service and worked in National Security for over 35 years. Kelly is very proud to have been born in San Antonio, TX. He’s fond of saying “His dad told him not to ask someone where they are from, if they are from Texas they will tell you – if they are not, there’s no reason to embarrass them.” Although their family got transferred around the country and world a lot they spent 10 of his dad’s 20 years in the Air Force in San Angelo, TX – just not all at one time.

Kelly attended High School in Tacoma, WA, and, due to his interest in Law Enforcement, became a Pierce County Deputy Sheriffs Cadet. He also studied Vocational Marine Mechanics. Since he was too young to be a deputy and to increase his knowledge in Law Enforcement and mechanics he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and served for four and a half years as an Engineer, Motor Life Boat Crewman and Rescue Swimmer, Oil Spill Investigator, and Federal Law Enforcement Officer. While in the Coast Guard, Kelly got NAUI Open Water One Scuba Diver Certified.

Kelly didn’t want to be 65 years old and wondering – “What if I drove a truck?” Then CFI mistakenly placed an advertisement in the Portland Oregonian newspaper and the rest was history. He attended Crowder College and started working for CFI as a student driver. He eventually became an over-the-road driver finisher. Then he was asked if he’d like to work in the office and he took a job as a driver recruiter. A friend started loaning him tapes on self-improvement, goal setting, management, and leadership, and through the implementation of the disciplines and techniques that he learned in those courses, his career took off. He was promoted to Safety Supervisor where he was in the Safety Department of CFI on the weekends and worked in Accident and Cargo Claims during the weekdays. He was then promoted to Safety Manager over Recruiting. Kelly’s goal was to become the president of CFI and he worked every day to be one day closer to that dream. However, one day Kelly realized the next president of CFI was too young and by the time he was through being president, Kelly would have lost a lot of revenue-generating years. So in August 1994, Kelly set a goal to start his own consulting company.

To realize this dream, Kelly needed to work on knowledge and financial independence. So he continued his habit of spending at least 30 minutes per day studying in his field and set specific financial goals that would come to fruition in September 1997. So he planned to start the Kelly Anderson Group on January 1, 1998, and he did.

The first division Kelly started was “Seminars,” which was related to Driver Recruiting, Retention, Customer Service, and Management/Leadership. Then he started Driver Engagement Services, the International Society of Recruiting and Retention Professionals, e-Learning, and Recruiting Services. Today the Kelly Anderson Group employs around 70 people and provides services to companies throughout the United States and Canada.