RALPH TURNEY (Jun 1955)

Ralph Turney (June ’55) has lived a very rewarding life as a business executive, a civic leader, and a humanitarian. He credits Junior Achievement with giving him the business acumen and experience to start his own motorcycle courier company while still a student at Roosevelt.
After contracting with TWA and Ozark Airlines, his company, Red Arrow Corporation, grew over the years until in 1999 he was CEO of an enterprise comprised of Red Arrow Express, Rush Trucking, RAC Inc., and Red Arrow Warehousing, with six hundred trucks making deliveries all over the United States with offices from Los Angeles to Orlando. His company, at one time, represented one hundred six freight forwarding companies, one ocean carrier, nine non-vessel common carriers and the Railroad Agreements. He led a merger with U.S. Delivery and then with Corporate Express, a worldwide conglomerate with three billion dollars in sales and 26,000 employees.
Ralph was appointed to the position of Good Will Ambassador for the United States Transportation Division. Traveling extensively in Europe and Asia, he established a foreign trade zone for St. Louis and Kansas City.
Currently, Ralph is president of Red Arrow Properties and Commercial Real Estate. As a community leader, he is the former president of the St. Louis Ambassadors, the St. Louis Traffic Club and the World Trade Club of St. Louis. He serves on the boards of U.S. Bank and Missouri Adoption Exchange and is a member of the World Air Cargo Professional Association and the St. Louis Navy League.
Ralph feels that if you receive from your community, you must give back to your community. This is amply demonstrated by his wide range of humanitarian and charitable interests, which include the Center for Head Injury, the YMCA, the 1904 World’s Fair Charity Foundation, the National Football Scholarship Foundation, the Pattonville School Foundation, Children with Cancer, and the Kaufman Fund for children and veterans.