Tom Rosen, a 1970 Morningside College graduate and a member of the college’s board of directors, recently received the Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture from the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Tom Rosen, a 1970 Morningside College graduate and a member of the college’s board of directors, recently received the Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture from the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Rosen is president and chief executive officer of Rosen’s Diversified Inc. (RDI) in Fairmont, Minn. RDI is Minnesota’s second-largest privately held agribusiness company and one of the nation’s largest 200. RDI operates the country’s fifth largest beef processing company, manages a fleet of 500 semi-trailer trucks and has a complete line of performance pet products as well as agricultural chemical and fertilizer businesses.

The late Eldon Siehl, a Minnesota businessman and philanthropist, established the Siehl Prize. It is awarded annually to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions toward producing food and ending hunger.

After earning his business administration degree from Morningside, Rosen worked as a sales representative for Marion Laboratories and joined RDI’s agricultural chemical division in 1973. He was named operations manager of the agribusiness division in 1982 and promoted to president in 1986. In 1991, he was appointed chief executive officer of RDI. Under Rosen’s leadership, RDI has achieved annual sales of $3.5 billion and employs 5,000.

Rosen is a longstanding member of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Business Partnership. In 2006 he was named to the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame.