A native of Columbus, Indiana, Charles Raymond Boll, Jr. joined Cummins Engine Company immediately after receiving his BSEE from Purdue in 1941. Boll received further electronics training at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and soon he was called upon to use his skills in the U. S. military where, among his assignments, he served as radio and radar intelligence officer in General MacArthur's headquarters in the Far East. Following the war, he returned to Cummins and in 1955 was elected an officer of the corporation. The following year he became a member of the Board of Directors. He retired from active management in 1982 but continued to serve on the Board of Directors and as a consultant until 1989.

Involved in his profession and his community, Boll has served on the Advisory Committee of the American Trucking Association Foundation, the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Columbus Board of Aviation Commissioners, and the Board of the Bartholomew County Hospital Foundation. Currently he is treasurer of the Heritage Foundation of Bartholomew County and of the Southern Indiana Health Management Association. He was named a Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 1974.