Roger Hardesty is the founder and president of The Hardesty Company. A diversified real estate developer and builder who began making his mark on Tulsa in 1959, Hardesty began his career in concrete finishing, expanded to single-family homes, followed by multi-family housing units, industrial buildings, commercial retail centers, office buildings, and hotels. With an entrepreneurial spirit he developed, built, leased, and managed more than 30,000 multi-family units in his career, beginning with 19 units in 1964.  

Hardesty owned and operated Mid-Continent Concrete, the largest ready-mix concrete operation in northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. He also founded and operated over 25 different business ventures including Alliance Transportation, Bizjet International, and the Quarry Landfill. Inspired by a love of flying, Hardesty founded United States Aviation in 1987. Today, the Hardesty Family owns and operates one of the country's premier independent Fixed Base Operator facilities, worldwide aircraft charter services, and Black Hawk helicopter air crane businesses. As a pilot, Hardesty has logged in excess of 15,000 flight hours with 21 Jet ATP type ratings including the Gulfstream G550, Northrop F-5A and F-5B, and a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter. He also has performed in selective air shows and television commercials in his Northrop F-5A.

In 2005, Hardesty and his wife Donna established The Hardesty Family Foundation with a focus on Tulsa area nonprofits. He credits his wife, daughters Debbie and Michelle, and grandsons Paul, Alex, and Connor as his greatest inspirations.