Roy Andersen was born on 12 May 1948 and matriculated at Northview High School in Johannesburg. While studying at the University of the Witwatersrand, he was awarded prizes as the top student in two of his five academic years. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1972 and as a Certified Public Accountant in 1975 in Texas.

Roy Andersen started his career at Ernst & Whinney Chartered Accountants in 1966, and subsequently became Chairman of Ernst & Young. Thereafter he went on to The Johannesburg Stock Exchange as Executive President over the period 1992 until 1997 and oversaw the restructuring of the JSE. In March 1997 he was appointed as Chief Executive of the Liberty Group. In January 2004 he was appointed as Chairman of Murray & Roberts Holdings and Virgin Active South Africa, and in June 2004 as Chairman of Sanlam Limited.

With regards to his military career, he was commissioned into the Artillery in 1966. He commanded the Transvaal Horse Artillery from 1976 to 1979, and was thereafter appointed as Colonel Artillery and subsequently Senior Staff Officer Operations of 7 Infantry Division. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in October 2003.

Positions that he currently occupies are Chief Defence Reserves for the South African National Defence Force, Honorary Colonel of the Transvaal Horse Artillery as well as a member of the Council for the Support of National Defence. He was appointed General of the Gunners on 1 December 2005.

Roy Andersen is married to Wendy and has two daughters and a son.