Rudi Roeslein

Founder and Chairman Roeslein & Associates

Last Reviewed: September 25, 2026

Executive Summary

Rudi Roeslein co-founded Roeslein & Associates in St. Louis in 1990. It is a privately held engineering, procurement and construction firm working in can making, renewables, energy and industrial manufacturing. He ran it as chief executive for more than three decades. In July 2023 he became Chairman and handed the chief executive role to Brian Sneed, then the company’s President and COO. The company says it now employs more than 1,100 people across four continents. His other main venture is Roeslein Renewables, which he founded and chairs. It turns agricultural and industrial waste into renewable natural gas and pairs that with prairie restoration. That work earned him the Excellence in Bioenergy Award in 2026.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded Roeslein & Associates in 1990 with Fritz Dickmann. By the company’s own account it has grown from two people to more than 1,100 employees.
• Kept the firm going through a near two-year collapse in work in 2001 and 2002, when he and his partner took no pay for 18 months. By 2013 it had become a business of about $100 million.
• Became Chairman in July 2023 and passed the CEO role to Brian Sneed, part of a wider round of internal promotions.
• Founded Roeslein Renewables to produce renewable natural gas through anaerobic digestion.
• Received the Excellence in Bioenergy Award from BBI International and Biomass Magazine, and gave a keynote at the 2026 International Biomass Conference & Expo in Nashville.

Professional Journey

Roeslein and Fritz Dickmann founded Roeslein & Associates in 1990. The company engineers, fabricates and builds modular industrial systems, and its core market has been equipment and plants for can makers. It describes itself today as EPC specialists in “can making, renewables, energy and industrial manufacturing,” with an emphasis on modular, prefabricated delivery.

In a 2013 interview with Smart Business, Roeslein said that sales grew from just over $1 million in 1990 to about $20 million in 2000. Then work almost stopped. For close to two years the company had practically no volume and used up its retained earnings. Two members of the management team were let go, the six who stayed took a 30% pay cut, and he and his partner went unpaid for 18 months. He called it an identity crisis: “was it all smoke and mirrors? Was I just delusional?” His conclusion was that he had become the bottleneck, because he had insisted that every customer opportunity come through him. From 2002 he pushed decisions down to his managers. By the time of the interview the company had grown to about $100 million.

Roeslein stayed chief executive for another decade. In July 2023 the company announced that he would become Chairman and that Brian Sneed, then President and COO, would take over as CEO immediately. The same announcement promoted a group of internal leaders, including Rob Campbell to Chief Operating Officer, and the company presented the change as continuity. Company releases through late 2025 quote Sneed as CEO.

Alongside the engineering business, Roeslein built a renewable-energy venture. Roeslein Renewables, which he founded, uses anaerobic digestion to turn agricultural and industrial waste into renewable natural gas and other products, and it ties that production to prairie restoration and land conservation. Iowa State University’s C-CHANGE research consortium, which lists him among its people, and Biomass Magazine both refer to him as founder of Roeslein Alternative Energy. In April 2026 Roeslein Renewables announced that its founder and board chairman had received the Excellence in Bioenergy Award at the International Biomass Conference & Expo in Nashville, where he also gave a keynote. He described his aim as the point “where wildlife, ecosystems, and energy come together.”

Education

No education record was found in the company’s materials or in the dated press read for this profile.