John M. Agrey Award
2005 Recipient
Kent Conrad
A fifth-generation North Dakotan, Kent Conrad is a native of Bismarck. He began his official career in politics in 1968 when as a teenager, he headed up a statewide campaign to grant voting rights to 19-year-olds. In 1980, Senator Conrad won his first statewide race for North Dakota Tax Commissioner. He was re-elected to the office in 1984 and was first elected to the Senate in 1986.
Conrad is serving his fourth term in the U.S. Senate and is an advocate of fiscal discipline and the protection of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, especially in his role as ranking member of the Budget Committee and as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. As a representative of one of the most rural states in the nation, Conrad also serves as a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
In the past few years, Senator Conrad has secured $33 million for vital airport infrastructure projects from new runways at Minot, Fargo, and Jamestown to new terminal buildings at Dickinson and Bismarck. Senator Conrad also has recognized the importance of maintaining the state's transit system and worked to get $19 million to replace transit buses and construct transit facilities. He helped convince Congress to allocate $35 million to replace the Four Bears Bridge.
Senator Conrad has also been an advocate for the work of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute securing support for the Advanced Traffic Analysis Center and Small Urban & Rural Transit Center. He spearheaded the creation of the Lewis and Clark Legacy Trail along the Missouri River. Last October Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Strength Act. As a senior member of the Finance Committee, Senator Conrad was able to include $500 million in federal tax credits to be used by short line and regional railroads for railroad track rehabilitation costs. These credits will help preserve rural, local, and regional freight rail service crucial to businesses and communities.
Conrad holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, and an MBA from George Washington University. He is married to Lucy Calautti, and has a daughter Jessamyn.
