Ronald G. Wanek

Ron Wanek was born in 1941 in Winona, Minnesota. His parents were sharecroppers. Ron and his three sisters grew up in a home that had no indoor plumbing or electricity. From the time they could walk, the children helped with the farm's many chores. 'It was a tough life,' says Ron. 'There was always something that needed to be done, but as hard as we all worked, it was difficult to make a good living.'

To supplement what he made off the farm, Ron's father did side jobs in town. Eventually, when Ron was ten, his parents had saved enough money to buy their own farm. 'Things got better after that,' says Ron. 'We loved having the modern conveniences of electricity and plumbing, but there was still a lot of labor. I used to spend all day working alongside my father. I had a lot of questions for him as we worked, and he had a lot of advice. I felt very lucky to have been able to spend so much time with him.'

Ron was also influenced by his grandfather and great uncles who were all skilled at building furniture. Watching them design and create a chair or a cabinet impressed him and he dreamed of owning his own company one day'possibly one that manufactured furniture.

Since Ron was the only boy in his family, his father hoped that he would take over the farm when he grew up. However, Ron's wife, Joyce, whom he married when he was 20 years old, wanted no part of farming. Needing a job, Ron went to work for Winona Industries, which built cabinets for televisions and stereos. 'I was very fortunate in that job because I had three great mentors,' says Ron. 'One was an engineer, one was a great innovator, and one was an administrator. It was a start-up company, and I learned a lot about running a business from each of them.'

From the beginning of his employment, Ron told his mentors that he wanted to own a business, but not one that was as cyclical as the cabinet business. 'We would be busy up to December and then we would have to lay off people until April when demand for our products would pick up again,' says Ron. 'I also saw the writing on the wall that cabinet making was moving more and more to Japan. I felt that owning a furniture business would give me more control over my destiny.'

Nine years after he started with the cabinet makers, an opportunity came up to invest in a new company called Arcadia Furniture. Ron and his three mentors all invested, but to join in the venture, Ron and his wife had to sell their home. 'For whatever success I have had,' says Ron, 'I have to give a lot of the credit to Joyce. She knew how happy I was in this business, and she wanted me to be happy. She went right along with risking all we had to make it work. For years afterward, we didn't pull money out of the business; we just kept reinvesting it. That meant we didn't go out to dinner, and we didn't buy anything that wasn't a necessity.'

At the end of the company's first year, Ron, who served as the general manager, had the plant breaking even, including the repayment of all start-up costs. Five years later, in 1976, Ron's partners were ready to retire, and they sold their interests to Ron. One of the investors was the owner and founder of Ashley Furniture Corporation, Carlyle Weinberger. 'Carlyle was another mentor to me,' Ron says. 'He taught me manufacturing, administration, design, sales, retail'everything. When he retired, I got major ownership of the company, and I was able to merge our two companies.'

Today Ashley Furniture is the world's largest furniture manufacturing company with $6 billion in sales, 31,000 employees and 1,000 stores in 36 countries.

'I have always loved this business,' says Ron. 'While raising my children, they also understood how happy I was in my work. My oldest son, Todd, is now Ashley's president and CEO. I'm very proud he too has a passion for our business. I think if you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work.'

One of Ron's early lessons from his father was the importance of seizing an opportunity when it presented itself. 'Being a farmer, my dad knew that he could not waste opportunities'especially where the weather was concerned. If he had a good weather day, he had to plant. If he waited and missed the window, it could have a severe effect on his income. When my first opportunity came to buy into a business, I didn't worry too much about the risk. It was a good chance to make my dream a reality, and I jumped on it.'

The furniture manufacturing business is competitive. 'You have to be innovative in the furniture business,' says Ron. 'You have to see where the business is headed, and you have to be ready to do the next thing. My philosophy is that you have to improve what you do every day. Your designs have to be right; your quality has to be right; and your price has to be right. You have to work on those things over and over. If you rest on your success, someone will come along and take it away from you.'

Mentors were important in Ron's development, and he actively mentors his employees. 'It's important for young people to understand the why of things. Why it needs to be done a certain way, or why the outcome is important. Once they understand the why, then they can move forward.'

Humbled to be receiving the Horatio Alger Award, Ron is quick to talk about the blessings of his marriage to Joyce and how her dedication to business helped him to reach his vision for Ashley. 'We will have been married for 59 years in April,' he says. 'Joyce loves the business and has always taken an active interest in it. As a result, our children grew up loving the business. If I had come home at night grumbling about work, I don't think our children would have joined the company. Work has always been my pleasure, my hobby. Joyce has always understood that and I am grateful for her support.'

As he becomes a Member of the Horatio Alger Association, Ron hopes to serve as a mentor to the Scholars. 'I want to encourage them to carefully view this changing world and see where the opportunities of the future will be.'

In 1988, Ron and Joyce established their family foundation, which funds a variety of causes including education, the arts, and medicine. The Wanek family also provided a $50 million cornerstone foundation grant to The City of Hope to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes by 2023. Ron has personally donated millions to Mayo Clinic to assist its research efforts to cure heart disease.

In 1990, Ron established Soldier's Walk at Memorial Park in Arcadia, Wisconsin. For nearly three decades, he has contributed millions of dollars and thousands of hours of service by hand-sculpting and designing more than 25 monuments in the 500-meter walk that captures all U.S. wars. Soldier's Walk is recognized as the nation's premier war memorial, outside Washington, D.C.

'I understand the important role education plays in changing the trajectory of one's life, but I also know what it feels like to not be able to attend college due to rising costs,' says Ron. 'To be inducted into an organization that works tirelessly to support thousands of young people each year, lessening the financial burden of obtaining a degree, is a true honor. The mission of the Horatio Alger Association is a critical one, and I look forward to helping to advance it.'