John M. Agrey Award
2021 Recipient
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High-ResJohn Roswick
John Roswick will receive the Agrey Award, UGPTI's highest award in recognition of his state and national leadership in the trucking industry. Roswick began working at Midwest Motor Express (MME) at age 16. Following graduation and a three-year stint in the U.S. Army where he achieved the rank of captain, he returned to MME in 1972 and served as treasurer, president and chairman of the board, a position he held until his retirement in 2019. MME recently celebrated a century of transportation services in North Dakota.
During the time when the N.D. Public Service Commission regulated the trucking industry, Roswick testified before the commission to inform and help craft regulations and enforcement, leading to increased gross truck weights, increases in truck length, and changes in regulated truck routes. He was active in the North Dakota Motor Carriers, serving as a board member and a former president. In that capacity, he frequently provided input into state law and regulation.
In the 1980s, Roswick was a member and later president of the North Dakota Highway Users, a group that advocated for protection of gas tax funding and its use for highway maintenance and improvement on the state and federal level. In that position, he worked with elected officials, particularly Senator Quentin Burdick, to assure that North Dakota and other small-population states received their fair allocations of federal highway funds.
Roswick's North Dakota Motor Carriers activities led to his appointment as North Dakota's state vice president, a post that included serving on the board of directors of the American Trucking Association (ATA). He served on the regulatory committee, which evaluated and provided recommendations to ATA's legislative, policy, and legal staff for action. He also served on the labor committee, which advised on legislation, regulations, trends, practices, and policies in the transportation industry workplace. Roswick served in those positions until his retirement after 33 years of service. He was also member of The National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc., which advocates for trucking issues to federal agencies and the Supreme Court.
Roswick was a long-time president of Bismarck Industries, a development partner of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association, which was instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new jobs to the Bismarck economy. He also serves as a board member of the Thomas and Francis Leach Foundation, which gifts more than $1 million annually to regional non-profit organizations that support the arts, humanities, education, medical sciences, and health and social services.
The Agrey Award recognizes and honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the state of North Dakota, its citizens and its business community through involvement in transportation.
