Executive Profile with Jim Fitzpatrick, Powered by CBT News

From Bar Owner to Automotive Legend: Building a $2 Billion Dealer Group

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When John Bergstrom and his brother first applied to become GM dealers in 1982, they were flatly rejected. What happened next—a clerical error that somehow approved their application—launched one of America's most successful automotive retail enterprises. Today, Bergstrom Automotive stands as Wisconsin's largest dealer group with 39 locations representing over 30 brands, annual sales reaching $2 billion, and a team of 2,500 employees.

The secret behind this remarkable growth? A deceptively simple philosophy instilled by John's Norwegian mother: "Look your customer in the eye, smile, and thank them for coming." She would remind him that "neither the floor nor the ceiling ever paid a bill." This customer-first approach, combined with an unwavering commitment to community service, has created an automotive powerhouse built on relationships rather than transactions.

What truly distinguishes Bergstrom from competitors isn't just commercial success but philanthropic impact. Since founding their first business—a neighborhood bar—the Bergstroms have maintained a policy of returning 25% of profits to community initiatives. This commitment has expanded dramatically, now supporting Boys and Girls Clubs, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and programs feeding thousands of children daily. For John, this represents the true measure of achievement: "When you punch out, what's the score?"

The conversation explores pressing industry challenges including manufacturer relationships, the electric vehicle transition, and the digital evolution of car buying. While acknowledging technological change, Bergstrom remains convinced that automotive retail fundamentally thrives on personal connection—especially when helping customers navigate major financial decisions. His insights reveal why, despite industry headwinds, a culture focused on genuine customer care and community impact creates lasting business success.

Curious how value-driven leadership transforms business results? This candid conversation with one of automotive retail's most respected leaders offers insights applicable far beyond the dealership world.

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Jim Fitzpatrick:

This is the Executive Profile exclusively on CBT News, the Executive Profile sponsored by Cox Automotive. What do you get when you start with a world class company culture built on employee satisfaction and service to the community, and add in 39 new car dealerships throughout Wisconsin? Well, you end up with a remarkable dealer group that drives exceptional experiences for their customers and prioritizes philanthropic initiatives that extend far and wide. I'm, of course, talking about Bergstrom Automotive. Welcome to another edition of the Executive Profile.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

I'm Jim Fitzpatrick, and recently I had the opportunity to spend the day with John Bergstrom, chairman of Bergstrom Automotive, at their headquarters in Neenah, Wisconsin, a staple in the community. Bergstrom Automotive was founded by John and his brother, Richard Bergstrom. The business is now Wisconsin's number one dealership group and one of the largest privately held automotive retailers in the country, with 39 stores representing over 30 brands. Aside from retail automotive, Bergstrom

Jim Fitzpatrick:

might be best known for its extraordinary support of major community efforts, including Make-A-Wish Wisconsin, Boys and Girls Club, United Way and Drive for a Cure. Here now is my interview with John Bergstrom. Your story is really so inspiring. So before we get into some of the challenges that dealers are facing today, I want to learn a little bit about your background. From the research that we found, you went from bar owner to car dealership owner and now the chairman of one of the largest privately owned dealer groups in the country. So kind of take us back and tell us how you got started.

John Bergstrom:

Jim, it goes back to my mom. There's so many of us that have been successful at different levels in business, but she was a tough disciplinarian. She would invite her parents every night, every Sunday evening, to dinner at our house and she'd make dinner for us, and my mom also invited aunts, uncles, cousins, whoever wanted to come. We did this every Sunday and she was a beautiful lady and looked so charming and big smile behind the scenes she made it really clear that we were not gonna be late. We were gonna have our teeth brushed and our shoes were gonna look good and we were going to shake hands, look people in the eye and thank them for coming to our home for dinner. So I understood what it meant to bring people into your home and to treat them the way that this very strong Norwegian lady thought they should be treated.

John Bergstrom:

And we started a bar after Marquette University. My brother, dick and I. We had this same philosophy that our mom had. So when somebody walked down the six steps, the game we played there were five employees where we were going to get to know their name and they were going to call them by name and we were going to smile, say we're happy to see you and we're going to slide what they ordered the last time they were here down the bar without the basket and the whole thing was to make them feel like a guest in our bar. That all goes back to how you treat people, showing them you care and and making them feel like you really sincerely care about them right so we've had a lot of challenges, a lot of great days and challenging days, but it all goes back to that.

John Bergstrom:

Sure, I can remember her saying one day look at your customer in the eye and smile and thank them for coming. And she said neither the floor nor the ceiling ever paid a bill. Right, and you just think about that and it's worked pretty well ever since. That's great.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And the story that you were telling me prior to recording today that you were after GM to get that GM point here in this town and you didn't give up.

John Bergstrom:

There wasn't any General Motors dealership here, right, and I very much wanted. I didn't know anything about it outside of I loved cars and we wrote the application. We thought they'd accept us and they sent us a letter within a couple weeks saying we're sorry, but you can't be a dealer. So that was upsetting and we what?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

let me just ask you this what made you think, you and your brother, that you could run a car dealership, since you have? You were running a bar, did you, did you not? Were you naive, or did you think? We're going to learn this as we go?

John Bergstrom:

It gets worse than that. I'd never seen a legitimate financial statement outside of his school Right. So assets, liabilities, profit and loss, sure. So we were really naive, or I was. I'm not going to blame my brother, but anyway I sat down and wrote a letter to Roger Smith, who was chairman. I sat down and wrote a letter to Roger Smith, who was chairman. His secretary told me later that she opened the letter and read it and felt she should at least show it to Mr Smith, who was chairman of General Motors, and see if there was a way he could help. He told her no and they sent a man to explain to me why not and to do the financial calculation of how much I would need, which was about ten times what we had. And he, on the way, stopped at GMAC's office in Milwaukee and just to get our financial application he came to see me, explained that they were sorry, they weren't going to give us a chance and he hoped someday maybe we could.

John Bergstrom:

That was on a Thursday. The following Wednesday we got a letter from GMAC saying we've approved your credit, we've accepted you and welcome to the General Motors family. I went bonkers excited. Richard was happy. What a surprise. So I called Roger Smith's secretary direct and thanked her and she said I haven't heard anything about this yet. And I said well, I just got this letter. I cannot thank you enough. You're the only one that seemed to care, or whatever. Help us. Well, it turned out later and I wasn't going to give my letter back that it was a mistake. They went to GMAC, thought that if the chairman's office was sending somebody to check my application, that would probably be better Different days, of course, to approve it.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

To approve it, we'll get in more trouble if we don't approve it.

John Bergstrom:

Well, it worked out very well for them and for us, but that's how we started.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That is absolutely amazing. That was in 1982 that you opened up the first dealership. That's just incredible. Things are not done that way today, right?

John Bergstrom:

Actually, I hope not, yeah.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's exactly right. So talk to us about the growth of the company since then. You've got now in the group 39 stores. Did I get that number right?

John Bergstrom:

That's correct With a recent acquisition yes.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Why the desire to continue so many stores? When is enough? Enough for John Bergstrom?

John Bergstrom:

You sound so much like my wife.

John Bergstrom:

I'm sure I do. The reality is we have just an amazing team of people and in each one of these businesses there are opportunities for people to run a parts department or be a general manager or grow and have their own business within our business, and it's exciting for us and we feel it's also a part of what makes us who we are. And so none of these are gargantuan stores. Every now and then somebody will say you're the biggest whatever dealer in Wisconsin and I say where's Wisconsin? And I think a lot of people look at it that way. But we're about $2 billion in sales now, something like that. We have about 2,500 teammates and we continue to live on the principles we started with Show people you care about them and we continue to live on the principles we started with.

John Bergstrom:

Show people you care about them Genuinely, try to solve their problem. Sure, and we have some unusual rules. You couldn't do it in a public company, but everyone that works with me knows I will support them. Just do what they think is a smart thing, yeah, so you end up with fascinating decisions that you want to hug people about. Our people make this thing and I'm sure a lot of people feel that way, but I'm very sincerely impressed. I don't go a day without someone. Really, I've gone through some couple tough periods with my health. It's amazing how they support you and write and call or all that stuff. Or we've gone through some difficult periods where the economy goes up and down and boy I believe they'd come. This core group would come to work.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

They wouldn't get paid, so you really feel it's the associates that drive the growth. I mean, obviously you have enough that you could sit back and have a very nice life and and but but it's I. I hear from you that it's really all about giving back to the associates and giving them opportunity well, it's being too nice, but it's a.

John Bergstrom:

It's a very important part of this that we can grow together and they all have these chances. I love this business and and uh, when's enough enough? I don't know. I've never looked at that. I just know that I have a couple good friends that have a disease worse than I do, so I can use them as my excuse, you know.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

But in June you were installed into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame. Congratulations to you on that.

John Bergstrom:

That goes. That goes back to worse Wisconsin.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Well, you were quoted as saying you know the honor should be shared by all of the employees at Bergstrom Automotive. I don't do anything alone. We have 1,800 teammates who help. For me to get a recognition award is nice and I appreciate it, but it's really for them, the 1,800 of us. It's really all about the people with you, isn't it?

John Bergstrom:

Yes, it is Just wonderful, wonderful people we have.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah Well, that speaks volumes of the company and the culture that you've built. I mean, if Berkshire is synonymous with anything in addition to where Wisconsin is, it's that you've been able to successfully build a culture. If you could sum it up what do you think are the ingredients for some of the other managers and dealers that are listening to build a good culture in retail automotive today?

John Bergstrom:

In some ways I'm very appreciative. They give me that thought process, but the reality is I feel the same way back to them. We have, for the last five years, been in the top three companies and best places to work, which is all teammate stuff. It has nothing to do with us, and I can't tell you how proud I am of them, because why teams work, why dealerships work, is they help each other and they work together. If you get a group of them that really care about the guests and a group that I can't wait to go home and could tell you everything that's wrong with the world, that doesn't work. So they themselves build this culture of caring. We have an unusual business philosophy that they all know of and they're part of and we're proud of.

John Bergstrom:

When we were in our bar, we started in our very first year that we're going to give 25% of our profits back to the communities that the bar was in. That didn't amount to much, actually, to tell you the truth, but we have kept that going from that very beginning and now we have some consequence. We can make a difference now, and whether it's build a boys and girls club or whether it's Make-A-Wish is a huge thing. With my son, tim. Most of this is about helping kids that are having a tough time. But all through the challenges of COVID times where you're making sure that people get lunch right, I mean it's so basic and and we're in a scale now where you have half a dozen Boys and Girls clubs that all have twelve or fifteen hundred kids and all of a sudden you're trying to figure out how to feed ten thousand kids every day.

John Bergstrom:

Oh, my gosh and that sounds like a lot and I don't mean it as yippy. We're good. That is a lot, but our business lets us do that and our employees are proud of that, our teammates and there's a lot of places. We went to a Jesuit school, so we believe that helping get a Christian-based education that's got discipline and respect and just the normal values that you sometimes lack in a public education system Sure, we are huge into that.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, you work with your son Tim very closely. You guys run a great organization.

John Bergstrom:

We have fun together, you really do yeah, when I've interviewed your son Tim very closely, you guys run a great organization.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

We have fun together. You really do. Yeah, when I've interviewed your son, tim, every other word is my father, my father, my father and you've played such a big role in his life and and and he gives you such great respect for it, which is great to see in the car business because he's you know you often don't see that, as you know, he.

John Bergstrom:

He is so much more talented than I am in getting along with people and building relationships. I'm incredibly proud of him and I love the way that he feels a responsibility to do his thing not my thing or our thing, but his thing to make a difference. He came to me a year ago and he said we're building a new high school in Neenah public school system and I think we ought to build a service department in the high school where these kids that like cars, instead of pretending and going to actually build a service department. And I said have at it, it's a great idea.

John Bergstrom:

So they just opened this school a couple weeks ago and you walk in you think you're in the service department. I mean toolboxes, hoists, wheel balancers, all this stuff for these young, and it's just not boys, it's boys and girls. He oversees one of the challenges in our business of getting enough trained techs as we grow and he had 23 kids come out of his educational system this year join our company as techs.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Oh my gosh. And there's probably some dealers out there right now that are taking those notes because, as you know, we're about 75,000 light in terms of the need for technicians in the auto industry over the next few years because of retirement and changeover and growth and what have you, and it's a real problem. So what an innovative idea. That is because there are those kids that say college isn't for me and I love cars, and that's a great way to bring them in.

John Bergstrom:

I got to tell you it's a great job. Yeah, it is a great job.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Talk to us about the industry, some of the things that our dealers that are challenged with. In the car business, we're seeing OEMs that maybe want to play more of a role in the sales process. Ford, as you know, came out last year and said, hey, we've got these five different pillars. If you want to sell EVs you have to adhere by them, and it looked to many dealers as though they really want to play a much bigger role in that relationship with today's customer. We're seeing Mercedes-Benz kind of forward with maybe an agency model that we see in Europe. Is that a concern of yours as the head of a big group like this? You've got so many franchises. Do you feel like maybe you're under attack by the OEMs in this area or not so much?

John Bergstrom:

I'm not really goody-goody two-shoes. Obviously, there are difficult days in the relationship with manufacturers, but I can tell you today that I don't have any manufacturer. We represent every manufacturer that sells cars in the US, except for the boutiques. I don't have any one of them that I know of that's unhappy with us today. And we have situations where we don't agree.

John Bergstrom:

Facilities are incredibly expensive and you build a facility for a particular brand I'm not going to name. You get it done in three months excuse me, three years later they have a new leader and he wants a new image and you just think, gosh, this is four million dollars to go from where you are to the next one. You just say, gee, I'm not so sure that's money spent well. But when it's all said and done, we're all trying to do. We're all trying to take great care of our guests. We're trying to grow our business and trying to make a couple dollars doing it. I don't have any resentment for them for doing what they're trying to do. There are days where someone will say what do you think of this Tesla model? Where they don't have dealers, and you call up and the right a consumer.

John Bergstrom:

I own a couple Teslas that I bought a 3 right away and then an S just to figure out what's going on and how it works and the cars are pretty neat actually. But if you get an offender bender in Neenah, Wisconsin, with your Model 3, you cannot get it fixed, Can't get the parts there's nobody here. You cannot get it fixed. Can't get the parts there's nobody here. You can send it to Chicago, which is 200 miles, or Madison, if you know somebody and you got enough time, but you literally have to know have another car because there's no way you're gonna walk for the next three months while they figure out how to get a fender.

John Bergstrom:

That's a real problem. I don't go a weekend and my wife, if you asked her, will legitimize this statement. I've never gone a weekend where I haven't had a guest call me and say I've got a problem. John, can you help me? And you'd think I was on a different level in the building than that. If you ever get to a different level in the building than that, you're out of this business. You've got to care. You got, and the best relationships you get. The best guests that are going to buy cars from you year over year are the ones that you help on saturday night when their kid can't get back to school. That's right, you know. So I don't see a manufacturer that has a workforce that's going to answer that phone. They're good people, or nice people, or paid well. I think they do a good job, but it's a different person. I just don't see Carlos Tavares or Mary Barra or Jim Farley.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

They're not taking those calls.

John Bergstrom:

Well, the interesting thing is, they do and they do care. Sure, of course, but it isn't and they don't understand it's a local business. It's a small town, no matter how big it is, we have kind of the biggest dealership in different brands in the state, so you're selling several hundred cars in a month. It's still a little business. You still got to do what we do every day. I just don't see how that's going to happen Now. I think there could be a more efficient way to do it, but that's a different question.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Since you brought up the Tesla name, perfect segue for me to talk to you about EVs the Tesla name, perfect segue for me to talk to you about EVs.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

A lot of dealers are out there that I've spoken to that have said, yeah, we're all in on EVs, we're going for it, we're going to be in an EV environment. And then I've spoken to a lot of dealers that said we have to pump the brakes on this EV situation. They're starting to pile up on my lots and the consumers are not coming in wanting EVs. Where do you stand on the EV issue?

John Bergstrom:

I have a different issue than that. I've been on the board of Wisconsin Energy for 30 years. We generate electricity in Wisconsin by burning coal and natural gas. We don't have successful large wind farms. We have them but they're kind of a toy. You got the electric stuff from the sun with solar, but sun comes out I think the last time in November, comes back in March or something you know you just so we're burning coal to generate electricity, to charge a battery, to drive the car.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

I'm having trouble with that.

John Bergstrom:

I have been, like everybody, kind of watching China closer, and in the JPMorgan Chase economic report they say that the Chinese are building 100 coal-fired power generation plants today. Wow, you're just thinking how does this work? I think in California obviously it works, and probably in Florida and I'm sure we'll get it to work. But until we get a charging network, everybody has to have two cars.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right. How long do you think we'll see an all-EV environment? Do you think when your grandkids are running stores? No, I don't think so. You don't think we'll ever see that.

John Bergstrom:

Well, I was at a GM meeting not too long ago, within the last three weeks, and they were talking about an Equinox that they can sell for $30,000 or something like that and that feels good and they're saying it gets 300 miles. There are people where you can plug it in every night.

John Bergstrom:

They don't go anywhere and I can see some of that, but I I like my heavy-duty truck yeah that can pull a boat or or do what we love to hunt and fish and we're going in all kinds of crazy environments roadwise. I don't see that ever being electric.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Interesting. So let me ask you you just acquired congratulations on your acquisition of five new dealerships right? So that brings you to 39 stores. We've heard so much in the last few years about these huge acquisitions. Two-part question A do you get those phone calls from the Lithias of the world and auto nations that say, hey, john, don't you want to sell to us and we'll give you a tremendous number? Or B do you say nope, we're on the growth path and we'll challenge you guys.

John Bergstrom:

Okay, there's three questions here. Okay, clearly, there is a benefit in scale on some of the expenses Computer systems, for example. They're insane what they cost for a stand alone store. The other thing is getting a team together and holding them together with one store is hard because they want to grow. I want to grow. So I think consolidation is there and I also believe that when we've done this the mistakes I made for many years we've learned how to fix and other people to start go through that path. It's just way expensive. But if we weren't in the car business today and my son came to me and said I'd like to be a car dealer and I'd like to start in whatever Menominee Wisconsin, I'd say game on, it's the best business in the world.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

I love it. Yeah, it is great. Yeah, that's great. So no plans to sell.

John Bergstrom:

No, no, no, that would screw up the game.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right.

John Bergstrom:

What would you do? Sit on your boat.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You and I got started in the car business about the same time in the early 80s, and in order for us to sell cars, as you know, we would go to our Saturday newspaper provider in that area and buy a full page ad and run all the ads, and today it's a whole new ballgame. Obviously, everything's digital and everything's online. We're even seeing the sales process take place online with consumers Through COVID. We heard that, ok, this is here. Now More people are going to buy their car completely online and maybe have it delivered right to their front door Much the way we see Carvana doing business. What is your take on that? Do you think that that is the future?

John Bergstrom:

of our industry. There's so many benefits to digital, but I have not seen and I don't take anything away from CarMax or Carvana or whatever. The guest that's going to spend an average of $40,000 buying a car wants to see it and I'm in a hurry If I buy something expensive, I want Amazon to drop it off or something. All that Except for when it comes to the car and a car or a house, and I just I haven't seen that transition. We tried hard, we spent a lot of money, built a couple digital platform places to try and sell cars to our clients, and we did, but there were expenses. There wasn't the margin that we wanted and you absolutely had this overarching challenge that they wanted to see it before they bought it. Now everybody is on the Internet looking for their car. You know you'll get a person I don't know 75, 80 years old my age actually that'll come in and say I want to look at 2-3461. And you think what the heck is that?

John Bergstrom:

But, our team will figure that out and they'll show it to the guy or the lady and they'll buy that car. They'll take it for a test drive. We help them finance the car, of course, and that's a big part of buying it on the Internet. You lose that. How do you help them? There's too much of. We have one-size-fits-all. It's going to solve the problem? I don't think so.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

We are seeing some headwinds in the economy high interest rates, gas prices, inflation is now a little bit rising back up again. Are those concerns of yours, especially now acquiring five new stores and more staff and the whole deal? Is that something that I don't want to say keeps you awake at night? Because that's often a question I ask.

John Bergstrom:

but is that a concern? First off, I never have any trouble going to sleep. Never have I lay down. Sometimes I go to sleep but I didn't lay down. But reality is this this interest rate challenge we have now where we raised rates in a lot of markets about double. Yeah, it's about $300 a month on an average car payment and a lot of people can't afford it. Yeah, so it forces them to keep the car they have. Much like it's going to happen in the mortgage house business right now. People can't buy a different house because the mortgage is ridiculous. So we're in this mode now where that is a challenge. On the other side of it, we have products like we've never had before that people really want to get. So we're we're in a transition. We lost. We had about 30% sale through leasing prior and leasing is dead as a doornail because you've got a residual differential.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right.

John Bergstrom:

And so now you're sitting here saying, how are you going to get the scale that you need to make it run? I think you're going to have much more accent on fixed operations Okay, and not that we're going to build huge new fixed operation buildings, but we're going to run them so we can use those facilities smarter and not waste time and have scheduling done better and having people trained. I think we're going to learn how to do those things. Used cars obviously are a big part of our business and maybe for a while are going to be the thing, but our new car business is actually up and you sit and kind of pinch yourself and say, how's this happen? And this month we're in right now is going to be one of the best months of this year when it never is that way. Right, we have very little supply, we have all kinds of shipping issues and here we come out the other end of the pipe isn't that great.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

How much do you think your success has come from hard work and skill versus luck?

John Bergstrom:

I think luck comes from working hard. The harder you work, the luckier you get kind of thing.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

I mean the story that you told about Roger Smith and that coming that way is just like wow, that's amazing Because you were coming off of a successful operation anyway in your restaurant and bar. It sounds like you would have been a car dealer anyway. You would have found a way.

John Bergstrom:

We would have figured out a way, and we did, but reality is, this is not a. How hard can you work? You have to love it. You have to enjoy cars and car people and the capitalistic system and all that stuff, and it's easy. Vince Lombardi, because we live in the shadow of that here all day long his first meeting was with these players that just had a terrible season, one 10-1 or something worst in their history.

John Bergstrom:

So, this little Italian tough guy comes out and his first meeting. He says, gentlemen, we're going to keep this simple. This is a football. And he holds up a football and they all laugh and he says there's three parts to this. Second one if you're going to be successful, you're going to work. That's two, three I'm Vince Lombardi and I have no intention of not being a winner. That was his first meeting. I think that's what our business is You've got to work. Every month is a new ballgame. It's fascinating. Here it is the 22nd or something. I'm trying to figure out what percentage of the month versus where we are in brands. This is a really neat business that has its challenges, opportunities, and I don't think it's gonna radically go away or something.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So obviously the auto industry is your passion, but everyone wants to know that's watching right now, because you are in this store every single day greeting customers, working with managers and salespeople and service technicians and everything else. You know them all by first name basis. But what is your passion outside of the auto industry? What do you do in your spare time?

John Bergstrom:

Okay, what do you do in your spare time? Okay, it would be easy to say that I like to shoot, ducks, hunt and fish. Sure, I love to be with our family and do things, have experiences. But if you ask any one of them, they'll say when he goes duck hunting it's two days and when he goes on a vacation with all of us.

John Bergstrom:

it's four days, that's kind of the big, but this again sounds a little bit too goody-goody two shoes but I really believe it and there's a lot of people in our business that feel the same way. If we can figure out a way to make things a little better in our community, to help a bunch of kids that need it, or all of the little things. It doesn't have to be big, but I enjoy that immensely and we do a lot of it. And not to be great people, but when you punch out, what's the score?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And that's how you're going to be judged. Yeah Well, I'm not Not on how many cars you rolled right.

John Bergstrom:

I hope they give us a credit for that somewhere. Maybe they'll give us a little plaque somewhere. That's right.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, last question what would Mrs Bergstrom say about her son being so successful?

John Bergstrom:

She'd probably say that she was proud of me because it was in public and she'd be very gracious because you said that to her. And then when she got me in the corner, she'd say straighten your tie and stand straighter. She was a driver. I think so many of us, when they reflect on what's made them successful, comes from that mom or that dad, and in many cases the mom. And when I see these kids that don't have a family structure or the mom's working and grandma's taking care of them, you just think they really don't have the chance that I had. That's right.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

John Bergstrom, thank you so much for allowing us to come into your incredible office, your museum right in here, and share your life story with us. I know there's so many people that will get so much out of it, so thank you so much.

John Bergstrom:

Thank you very much and thank you for what you and your business do for our business. I appreciate it.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Thank you Thanks for watching the Executive Profile exclusively on CBT News. Today's Executive Profile was sponsored by Cox Automotive.