A Birthday Letter to America
To our employees, partners, and the communities we are privileged to serve,
This year, America celebrates its 250th birthday. At ROERS, we’re celebrating another milestone that is deeply meaningful to our family and our company—our 50th anniversary.
For me, those anniversaries are connected.
America’s story has always been one of opportunity. It is the story of people willing to work hard, take risks, adapt when circumstances change, and build something that lasts. Our family’s story is just one small chapter in that much larger American story.
50 years ago, my dad, Jim Roers, wasn’t planning to start a construction company. He was working construction to help pay his way through college, earning a degree in Animal Science with every intention of returning to the farm. But the agricultural economy of the late 1970s forced him to rethink that path. Like so many Americans before him, he looked at difficult circumstances not as the end of a dream, but as the beginning of a new one.
What started with hard work, determination, and a willingness to take on the next opportunity became ROERS.
Today, that single leap of faith has grown into a family of construction, development, property management, and real estate companies which employ more than 125 people across North Dakota and beyond. Together, we’ve helped build neighborhoods, apartments, schools, commercial spaces, and communities. More importantly, we’ve built careers, friendships, and opportunities for hundreds of people who have become part of the ROERS family.
That isn’t just our success story. It’s an American story.
One of the greatest gifts this country offers is the freedom to change course when life changes around you. It rewards people who are willing to work, learn, innovate, and keep moving forward. My father’s journey—from a college student expecting to farm, to an entrepreneur building a business over five decades—is possible because of the opportunities America makes available to ordinary people willing to do extraordinary work.
For my brother Shane and me, that story wasn’t something we simply heard about growing up—it was something we lived. ROERS was never just where our dad worked. It was part of our childhood. Saturdays and summers often meant spending time on job sites, cleaning up construction debris, sweeping floors, hauling materials, and finding ways to turn scrap lumber and leftover materials into forts, race cars, or whatever our imaginations could create. Looking back, those job sites were our playgrounds, but they were also our classrooms.
As we grew older, the lessons grew with us. We learned how buildings come together in the field, but we also learned what happens behind the scenes in the office. We watched people solve problems, serve customers, manage projects, balance budgets, and navigate challenges. Over time, those experiences allowed us to become contributing members of the team ourselves. More importantly, they taught us that no job is beneath anyone, that every role matters, and that lasting success is built through hard work, humility, building relationships, and a commitment to serving others.
Those lessons remain at the heart of our company today. While ROERS has grown tremendously over the last 50 years, the values that guided my dad in the beginning remain the same. We believe in showing up, doing quality work, treating people fairly, and investing in the communities that have supported us.
As proud as I am of what we’ve built, I’m equally proud of how we’ve tried to serve.
My dad devoted years to public service in the North Dakota Legislature, believing that strong communities don’t happen by accident. I had the privilege of serving alongside him for eight years in the House of Representatives, carrying forward that same belief that giving back is both a responsibility and a privilege.
That spirit of service extends well beyond elected office. Every year, ROERS employees volunteer their time, talents, and resources in the communities where we live and work. We coach youth sports, serve on nonprofit boards, support local charities, mentor students, participate in community projects, and lend a hand wherever it’s needed. These acts of service may not always be visible, but they strengthen the communities we call home in meaningful and lasting ways.
I believe that’s one of the enduring strengths of America. Strong communities are built not only by government or business, but by people who choose to show up—for their neighbors, their schools, their churches, their nonprofits, and one another.
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we’ve had the privilege of gathering with employees, clients, and community partners in Fargo and Dickinson, with another celebration ahead this August as we open our new Bismarck office. These events are more than just looking back on five decades of success. They’re about expressing gratitude to the people and communities who have made that success possible and renewing our commitment to the future we will continue building together.
America’s 250th birthday is much the same.
This celebration is bigger than a single day or a single year. It is an opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been, appreciate the opportunities we’ve inherited, and consider what each of us can contribute to the next chapter of our country’s story.
Every one of us has the ability to make our communities stronger. Sometimes that means starting a business. Sometimes it means mentoring a young person, volunteering at a local nonprofit, serving on a board, coaching a team, helping a neighbor, or simply showing up when your community needs you.
The American story has never been written by a handful of extraordinary people. It has been written by millions of ordinary people who chose to contribute where they stood.
When Shane and I were kids building forts out of scrap lumber on those job sites, we couldn’t have imagined where that journey would lead. Today, I hope every one of us recognizes that we have the opportunity to build something that lasts. Sometimes it’s a building. Sometimes it’s a business. Sometimes it’s a stronger neighborhood, a more connected community, or a better future for the next generation.
As we celebrate both America’s 250th birthday and ROERS’ 50th anniversary, I hope each of us will look for one more opportunity to serve, one more way to strengthen our communities, and one more chance to invest in the people around us.
The next chapter of America’s story—and of ROERS’ story—will be written by people who choose to build, to serve, and to leave the places they call home better than they found them.
Thank you for being part of that story.
Shannon Roers
ROERS
