Martha Robinson Rivers Ingram (born August 20, 1935) is an American billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist. In 1995, Ingram succeeded her late husband as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ingram Industries, one of America's largest privately-held companies. She is the co-author of three books, including two biographies and a history of the performing arts in Nashville, Tennessee.
Upon graduation, she found employment at WCSC-AM/FM and WCSC-TV, a radio and television station, respectively, owned by her father.[1]
Ingram was appointed by her husband as director of public affairs at Ingram Industries in 1979.[1] After her husband's death in 1995, she became chairman and CEO.[1]
Ingram is the co-author of three books. Her first book was a biography of her husband published in 2001, six years after his death.[2] In her second book, published in 2004, Ingram wrote about the performing arts scene in Nashville during the Antebellum era.[3] She argued that it was destroyed by the American Civil War and that it never fully recovered.[3] Her third book, published in 2006, was a biography of Kenneth Schermerhorn, the music director of the Nashville Symphony.
Ingram was named in Business Week as the 50th most generous philanthropist, for her donations from 2000 to 2004.[5][7][8] In 2006 she was honored by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee as the 2006 recipient of the 13th Annual Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic efforts.[5][9] She received the Eli & Edythe Broad Award for Philanthropy in the Arts.[4]
Rivers Ingram, Martha (2001). E. Bronson Ingram: Complete These Unfinished Tasks of Mine. Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press. ISBN9781577362166. OCLC48551547.
Rivers Ingram, Martha; Kellogg, D. B. (2004). Apollo's Struggle: A Performing Arts Odyssey in the Athens of the South, Nashville, Tennessee. Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press. ISBN9781577363101. OCLC55675624.
Rivers Ingram, Martha; Kellogg, D. B. (2006). Kenneth Schermerhorn: He Will Always Be the Music. Nashville, Tennessee: Nashville Symphony Association. OCLC73171322.
