John Ruan is a man of considerable impact and influence on a local, national, and international level.
As the former Chairman and CEO of The Ruan Companies, Ruan represented a diversified group of businesses with activities that include transportation, commercial banking, financial services, international trading and real estate development.
In his native State of Iowa, where he was born in 1914, Ruan is a major contributor in business and the development of the Des Moines metropolitan area. In the early 1970's, Ruan built the 36 story Ruan Center to house the administration of the growing number of Ruan companies. Ruan built the 33-story Marriott Hotel in 1980 and the 14-story Two Ruan Center in 1982. He was active in the development and building of the Des Moines Convention Center in 1985 as well as several parking ramps in the downtown area. Ruan also owns Bankers Trust Company, the largest independent bank in Iowa.
The John Ruan Multiple Sclerosis Golf Exhibition is one of the largest MS charity fund-raising events in the United States. With the moneys raised from this event, Ruan funds ongoing research at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes MS Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. Ruan also sponsored the Ruan Neurosciencel Center at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. One of the top-ranked facilities of its kind, the Center provides quality care for people around the globe.
Nationally, Ruan is well known for his trucking company. He began in 1932 with only one truck. This small business grew into Ruan Transportation Management Systems, which is now one of the nation's largest trucking operations. (More on the history of Ruan HERE)
Internationally, Ruan founded the Iowa Export-Import Trading Company, a business involving over 50 nations around the world.
Ruan shares his success with his wife, the former Elizabeth Jayne Adams, two living children (one deceased), and their six grandchildren.
Ruan was the subject of a 2003 biography, In for the Long Haul: The Life of John Ruan by historian William B. Fredericks.
