Considered the richest person in North Dakota, Ron Offutt has an estimated net worth of $500 million. Born in Moorhead, Minnesota, he grew up in a financially-struggling farming family. In order to earn his education, he worked his way through Concordia College where he graduated in 1964 with a degree in economics.

After graduation, Mr. Offutt joined the family business. Along with his father, he began to actively expand their farming business which focuses on potato production. He founded the company which is now known as the RD Offutt Company and he serves as its President. For more than ten years, they purchased, rented, or partnered in order to increase the amount of land that they had at their disposal.

During the late 1960's, Ron Offutt and his father opened a John Deere branch which has grown into RDO Equipment, Inc. It became the largest John Deere dealership in the United States and is planning to reach 100 stores in four countries. In the late 1970's, the family business branched out into French fry production. They are now the primary supplier of frozen French fries for the McDonald’s corporation which also expanded their holdings from the upper mid-west to both coasts as well as the south coast. By 2012, they are already the most successful potato production agribusiness in the world with more than 4,000 full-time employees and an annual revenue approaching $2.5 billion.