Editor's Note: This article originates from an interview with Tom Burenga II, who shares personal insights into his father's relentless work ethic, fairness and commitment to both the business and its values. Read the full story on the 2025 Shortline Legends Hall of Fame Tom Burenga.
Farm Equipment talked to the kids to capture the story about Worksaver Hall of Fame founder Tom Burenga.
The oldest of the Burenga kids, Tom Burenga II joined John Deere corporate out of school, and advanced through multiple field assignments before moving to the dealership side in 2000. Today, he oversees operations for Truland Equipment, an 18-store group covering Northwest Ohio and Central Indiana.
When asked how he’d describe his dad and namesake, Tom Burenga II cites “a relentless commitment to the business and his customers. He wouldn’t accept failure or giving up. That persistence and tenacity — especially in this farm equipment business — is needed to weather the ups and downs of the market.”
He adds that “Dad would always say that he might not be right all the time, but he strived to be fair. He went about business in that manner with customers, suppliers and the team there in Litchfield.”
He was aware of the company’s early struggles (“Dad never shied from sharing what was going on, whether it was contract negotiations, customers, supply inventory or cashflow,” he says) but didn’t dwell on the challenges.
“We all spent a lot of time around the factory, because that’s where we’d go to spend time with Dad,” he says, noting an extreme commitment to the business.
Tom remembers attending the Wheatbelt Wholesale show in Kansas City when he was 6 and thought it was the “neatest thing in the world.” He soon was part of the Worksaver “staff” at farm shows like the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, helping set up and tear down, as well as talking to customers. He believes his first sale came around age 8.
Burenga also noted a lesson his dad received early on during his employment with equipment manufacturer FMC. “Dad was an engineer by trade and had turned into a drawing to an older engineer who responded by saying, ‘OK, now tell me what’s wrong with it.’ Dad asked what he meant as this was his best work. His boss wanted him to go back at it and look at what could go wrong or what could break.
“Dad cited that as an invaluable lesson, to go back and examine it from all angles. He remembered that lesson and applied it to all his product designs (“he was lead engineer through the 1990s”) as well as how to operate the business. He was an innovator that way.”
His dad modeled several things he wanted to pass on to his daughters. “His work ethic, for sure, and also being fair and just with people. That makes all the difference in the world. He teed it up as ‘fairness,’ but we’d call it ethics and integrity, quintessential needs of a farm equipment business.”
