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Professional Activities
James Autry, a former Fortune 500 business executive, is a noted lecturer and the author of eight books:

• The Spirit of Retirement

• The Servant Leader

• Real Power: Business Lessons from the Tao Te Ching

• Confessions of an Accidental Businessman

• Life and Work: A Manager’s Search for Meaning

• Love and Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership

• Nights Under a Tin Roof

• Life After Mississippi

Confessions of an Accidental Businessman, a collection of his memoirs, was one of five finalists in the 1996 Financial Times' Booz, Allen, & Hamilton Global Business Book Awards and also received a lengthy, favorable review in USA Today's Money bookshelf.

History
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Autry grew up in Mississippi, the son and grandson of Baptist ministers and a painter. As a young man, he worked as a reporter, photographer, musician, student tutor, copy boy, farm hand, and teletype operator, among other occupations. After graduating from the state university in Oxford, he was a jet fighter pilot in France for four years. Following his military service, Autry joined the magazine group for Meredith Corporation, responsible for such publications as Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies Home Journal. He worked his way up the ranks to become the president of the corporation.

As a young man, he worked as a reporter, photographer, musician, student tutor, copy boy, farm hand, and teletype operator, among other occupations. After graduating from the state university in Oxford, he was a jet fighter pilot in France for four years. Following his military service, Autry joined the magazine group for Meredith Corporation, responsible for such publications as Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies Home Journal. He worked his way up the ranks to become the president of the corporation.

Autry has received many awards and distinctions, among them the distinguished alumnus award for the University of Mississippi, being inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1981, the Headliner Award from Women in Communication in 1990, a doctorate in Literature from William Jewel College in 1991, and the Missouri State Medal of Honor in 1991. He has also received considerable national attention as one of the poets featured on Bill Moyers’ special series, "The Power of the Word," on PBS. He was featured, too, in two videos,
"Love and Profit"-the winner of a Telly Award-and "Life and Works."

James Autry lives in Des Moines with his wife Sally Pederson who is lieutenant governor of Iowa and his son. Currently he is a business consultant with top corporations and has an active speaking schedule.