Tire dealer Kent Olson giving community 'wheels to work,' education for life

Perhaps his most enduring contribution to his humanitarian legacy can be summed up in five letters: WATEA.

That acronym stands for the Wisconsin Automotive Truck Education Association, a non-profit he co-founded 17 years ago to promote the transportation industry in Central Wisconsin and across the state. It is the charity to which Mr. Olson chose to donate the money that accompanies the Humanitarian Award.

While WATEA has its hands in numerous programs and initiatives — many of which germinated from Mr. Olson — one signature program stands out, hands down.

Wheels to Work

WATEA oversees the Wheels to Work program, which provides reliable vehicles — or vehicle repairs — to low-income individuals in and around Wausau who need transportation to get to work or seek employment. Clients secure no-interest loans on the vehicles, or vehicle repairs, as well as affordable monthly payment plans catered to that individual's budget.

In keeping with Mr. Olson's hand-up-not-hand-out philosophy, recipients also must do their part. Each must meet with the program coordinator, review his or her budget, then attend four classes — at no charge to the client — including mandatory courses on making a budget and on vehicle maintenance.

The program, now in its sixth year, has distributed 240 vehicles as of year-end 2016.

An independent committee that judged the nominees for this year's Humanitarian Award said each candidate had merit, making the selection process difficult. But, it said, Mr. Olson stood out because of the Wheels to Work program, "especially appropriate based on the nature of the business," the committee said

Mr. Olson smiles when asked about his humanitarian nature.

"...When you've learned to (help others) because it's the right thing and there is no ulterior motive to what you're doing, you're just doing it because it's the right thing," he said, "man, that's when it feels good."

When you listen to members of the community describe Mr. Olson, you almost expect him to be wearing an "S" under his tire-themed polo shirt: more Clark Kent than Kent Olson.

"I just remember being struck by him the first time I met him," said Rene Daniels, executive director of the North Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, a non-profit that works to put others to work. Mr. Olson is chairman of Ms. Daniels' board.

Passion for his work

"He's not a wallflower," Ms. Daniels said. "You can tell when he's in the room. He's a man of presence. A man that clearly is going to get things done. And it was obvious to me the very first time I met him. I really think he is a role model for community involvement. He really is passionate about the work he does.

"His enthusiasm is contagious. And I think that's what you need to get things done."

Passion, it seems, is a buzzword to describe Mr. Olson.

"To say he has a passion for not just the automotive world, but for training and for growing young people in this community and in the automotive world….I don't think there is anybody that has more passion for that role," said Matt Klug, an automotive instructor at NTC.

"One thing that always impresses me about Kent is his tenacity, his desire," Mr. Klug said. "He doesn't just talk the talk. He walks the walk. He's in the committees. He's not at home evenings with his family; instead he's willing to give up time to come to our advisory committee or come to career nights we offer, and a whole bunch of stuff I don't know about."

Becky Zoromski, executive director of WATEA, also describes Mr. Olson as passionate — as well as blunt, smart and very direct.

"He's got good ideas," Ms. Zoromski said. "He likes to say he's the 20,000-foot guy in the sky with all the ideas. Once he has something he wants to get done, he's passionate about that."

Ms. Daniels said the most impressive quality about Mr. Olson is his relentlessness.

"He is so passionate about all this work that he does in the community, but the thing that makes him successful is his relentlessness," Ms. Daniels said. "He has a vision for where he is trying to go, in all this work he does for this community."

"If he runs into roadblocks, he steps back and says, 'I need to get there. I'll just have to take an alternative path.' But ultimately he will get there. He tires out the people around him sometimes because he is so committed to that work. Relentless is a word I want to use, that I think describes him."

Mr. Olson is relentless in his support of public education, particularly Wausau East and NTC. That might be typical for someone at his level of prominence in the community, but it's more impressive considering that Mr. Olson languished in high school and college, leaving the University of Minnesota before earning his degree.

"Kent is invested and is so focused on the economic development of our community, of our region, and not only the economic development of the tire industry, but also of the transportation industry," said Bradley Peck, principal at Wausau East.

"He gets it. He realizes that in order to develop our region, our community economically, it is imperative that schools partner with businesses, and that businesses partner with schools. He has been a tremendous facilitator, a link in facilitating that partnership between the school district and the business industry."

"Kent is the bull in the china shop when you need that," said Mark Poppe, the automotive technical teacher at Wausau East. "I don't mean that in any negative sort of way. Sometimes there needs to be someone like that spearheading and getting something done."

Darren Ackley, dean of the School of Applied Technology and Engineering and recently appointed vice president of learning, marvels at how Mr. Olson is able to bring industry competitors together to work toward a common goal for the benefit of the industry.

"He's not afraid to go out and talk to people," Mr. Ackley said. "He's very philanthropic and sees the bigger picture than just his shop. He's a people person; he likes talking. He's very extroverted. He can go out and talk to people and get them to see that common vision."

Where it began

Mr. Olson credits his late mother, a college professor, for planting the philanthropic seed in him at an early age, growing up in a small community near Minneapolis, between Excelsior and Chanhassen.

"She always took the time to listen to those who may not have had the perfect path," he said.

"I remember helping our neighbors," he said. "I remember little old ladies always loved you. I always thought that was cool."

A self-described "hands-on learner," Mr. Olson first became involved in the automotive service industry in the mid-1970s, working along with his friend at a two- or three-bay Phillips 66 station in Excelsior. When the owner of the station and his mechanic became incapacitated, he and his buddy got hands-on experience working on cars alongside another experienced mechanic.

Meanwhile, he found school boring. He didn't study well and couldn't sit in a classroom, in stark contrast to his sister, 15 months his senior, who graduated from medical school with just about every medical award from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Olson eventually flunked out of high school, failing to attend class. "Long story short, it was my beautiful mother who reached me somehow and said, 'You have too much going on; you have too much talent.'"

So he transferred to a high school in nearby Minnetonka and managed to get his degree.

Mr. Olson then went to the University of Minnesota, majoring in speech and communications. It was around this time that his real education began: He took a part-time job at Suburban Tire, a Goodyear dealer in St. Louis Park, Minn., not far from the university. That experience, as well as his entrepreneurial ambitions, led directly to opening his own dealership.

'Tough period'

But not before things really began to get dicey.

In fact, if not for his parents, and particularly his mother, Mr. Olson's story might be written much differently today. In those years between college and the handful of years afterward, he persevered through what he described as "a tough period.

"I went through a chemical dependency period, where if I didn't have a support system, which was my saintly mother, I wouldn't be here today," he said.

"I became disenfranchised," he said. "I didn't feel like I was competing, all those things. And so I went through a pretty dark time in my life."

He eventually went through treatment, which included two years of aftercare. He said the support he received afterward, dealing with his dependency as well as a sometimes contentious relationship with his dad, was as crucial as anything in his recovery.

"Every one of us that's truly an addicted personality, we fall off the wagon, once or twice or three times, maybe more, who knows?" he said, his voice trailing off.

"We fall off, and it's figuring out how to deal with those fall-offs or those re-occurrences, and not killing yourself, not penalizing yourself to the point of not getting ahead. That's when we really recover. That's when we get our life in order."

That experience helped to define his giving nature, perhaps more than anything else.

"There has to be a safety net, and that safety net has to be either God-giving people like my parents, or for too many people who don't have that kind of support, it has to be the community," Mr. Olson said. "So I've tried to be the community."

Once he moved to Wausau and established his dealership, he found himself immersed in several civic-minded committees, many with the same community leaders involved, all working toward similar goals.

"It was the same people saying the same things," Mr. Olson said.

The real catalyst for change, he said, came in the late 1990s. NTC had eliminated its auto parts program as part of substantial cutbacks, and those at the university with a vested interest feared the automotive technical program was the next logical victim.

With two groups — car dealers and tire dealers — working independently to save the program, Mr. Olson and another community leader, Jerry Brickner, began talking collaboration. How could they work together to keep the program at NTC?

"You can tie our program's continued existence almost straight back… to Kent's drive to save the program," said Mr. Klug, the auto technician instructor at NTC.

"He was very vocal and made a lot of phone calls. He got his point across: 'You can't get rid of this. This is too important to the community, having skilled technicians to work on vehicles.'

"I don't think we'd have a program without Kent."

With the NTC program intact, Mr. Brickner, president of Brickner Family Auto Group dealership, and Mr. Olson continued to discuss collaboration. Instead of working on seven committees that meet over a two-month period, why not form one entity and create one committee to work on workforce development, another on scholarship and fund raising, and another that focuses on education?

Thus, WATEA was born and incorporated as a non-profit just after the start of the new millennium. Messrs. Olson and Brickner continue as co-chairs of the 14-member board, which also includes Mr. Ackley, the NTC dean, and Mr. Poppe, the Wausau East teacher.

Helping the industry

"With the weather being the way it is, it's not conducive to walking all times of year," said Laura Krause, mobility manager of Wheels to Work. "Also with our limited amount of public transportation, and the hours, it's difficult sometimes for people to get to those jobs or for people even to be hired.

"Employers know public transportation is a struggle, and if they have to rely on other people, who's to say those people are going to be on time and get those people to their jobs on time? I'd say the need is pretty great here."

Ms. Krause is the face of the program, meeting with clients initially and helping them work through the process. She said Mr. Olson is extremely responsive to any difficulties she or the clients encounter and works to overcome them.

"He's vital to our program," Ms. Krause said. "Not only did he come up with the idea of this program, he is also one of the key players in continuing it. He's constantly making sure we're doing the best not only for ourselves, but for our community."

The program means so much to Mr. Olson that he sometimes speaks at the vehicle-maintenance class. And there have been times when he's taught the class himself.

Imagine that. The student who once had an aversion to the classroom has become a man comfortable standing in front of one. That's quite a testament to his passion — as well as compassion — for helping the less fortunate.

Perhaps David Eckmann, president and CEO of the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce, summed it up best in a letter he wrote in support of Mr. Olson's nomination for the Humanitarian Award.

"Pardon the pun," Mr. Eckmann wrote, "but when the rubber meets the road, Kent gets traction and gets things done."