The North Dakota Trade Office welcomes five new members to its Advisory Board. The board, largely comprised of experienced exporters and other international business leaders, offers strategic and tactical guidance to aide Trade Office staff in expanding North Dakota’s global trade through education, advocacy and expertise.
The Trade Office and the many North Dakota companies that it serves extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to two advisory board members who have completed their terms of service:
Jon Rustvang, a Fargo resident and former regional manager for United Parcel Service and Asmah Tareen, a Minneapolis-based attorney specialized in international business.
New members to the Trade Office Advisory Board are:
Steven Dickinson
Steve practices law in the corporate and international groups of Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. He represents clients in a wide variety of domestic and international business transactions including: acquisition and divestitures, joint ventures, distribution arrangements and establishing subsidiaries.
Roger Johnson
Roger was elected North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner in 1996 and re-elected in 2000, 2004 and 2006. A third-generation family farmer, he is a native of Turtle Lake, N.D. Roger graduated from North Dakota with a degree in agricultural economics. State University
Murad Al-Katib
Murad is president of Bismarck-based United Pulse Trading. The company owns and operates a processing plant in Williston and exports a variety of pulse crops to 60 countries.
Robert W. Pelka
Robert joined Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank (a joint venture between Wells Fargo Bank and Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Group) in 1999. At the Wells Fargo Trade Bank, Robert is responsible for the export financing activities of all clients in the Upper Midwest markets and selected East Coast regions.
Rich Szeliga
Rich manages Hanjin Shipping Company’s intermodal services in the Upper Midwest. Hanjin is a shipping logistics company with a fleet of more than 200 container ships, bulk carriers and other vessels transporting more than 100 million tons of cargo throughout the world every year.