BRUCE HERTZKE IS GUEST AT GRADUATION CEREMONY

While at Iowa Lakes, Hertzke was on the baseball team and also played intramural basketball.

“Our intramural basketball team won the league while I was there,” he said.

Upon graduation, he was certain he wanted to work in the financial world as an accountant. He applied at Winnebago Industries where new corporate headquarters were being built.

“Winnebago Industries was really growing and they said ‘we have a job for you,’” Hertzke recalls.

He was offered a job – it’s just that it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. The company wanted him to work for them right away – on the production line – while the new facility was being built.

A bit dejected, he remembers going home and talking with his dad.

“I went home and told my dad that that’s not what I wanted,” Hertzke remembers. “My dad said I should take the best offer I had – and that was the only one I had – so, I started work in 1971.”
Hertzke was eventually offered the office job he originally wanted – about a year and a half later. But, he didn’t take it.

“I had worked my way up in production,” Hertzke said, “and it paid $20 more a week than the accounting job so I kept the production supervisor job. Then I worked my way up through the ranks at Winnebago Industries and held several different supervisor jobs – from General Manager to Production Operations Manager and then I got promoted over to manager of RV Styling and Product Development Manager of RVs.”

After that, there were some changes in top management at the company.

“They asked me if I’d be Director of Operations for Winnebago Industries,” he said.

He was then promoted to Vice President of Operations and was in charge of all 18 plants.

In 1996, he was promoted to President of the company. Two years later he was named Chairman and CEO. He currently holds the position of Chairman, CEO and President.

Today he looks back on his first years at Winnebago Industries as being a great learning opportunity.

“The opportunity to … work with the people (in production) – those values I learned down on the floor keep you humble,” Hertzke said. “It’s pretty important that you don’t forget who really makes you look good.”

When hiring new employees, Hertzke looks for a specific set of skills.

“They don’t … have to be geniuses,” he said. “I hope they don’t think they know it all. I look for people who spend time listening as much as talking and the ability to work with people because the people that are successful have figured out ways … to get a lot out of (other) people. Those are the ones who succeed.”

His advice to young people today?

“Just be ready for whatever life’s willing to deal you,” he said. He remembers that everything wasn’t trouble-free in his professional career.

“I … lost my supervisor job and a manager’s job through … tough times due to the economy,” Hertzke said. “You’re going to get setbacks in life and that’s when you’ll see the true individual and how well they handle adversity. It’s the person in the tougher times – how well they can handle the conflicts – that’s the test of a true leader and a good manager.”

“I look back, and I’ve had some setbacks and a lot of accomplishments,” he said. “I’m very proud to be an Iowan and live in the Midwest and brag about the good Midwestern work ethic and the good educational opportunities available.”

“Without a doubt. I’m very proud of the fact that I went to a small high school in Iowa and that I went to a smaller college,” Hertzke said. “They taught me a lot of good values and how to get along well and work with people.”


Editor’s note: This article is one in a series of periodic articles on what former Iowa Lakes students are doing today.