Profiles of Success: Adrian Burone

HARLINGEN — Adrian Burone lives by the words, “don’t wait for things to happen — make things happen.”

That’s what Burone has done with the opportunities that have come his way. Making things happen is what led the 39-year-old to where he is today, general manager and partner at Bert Ogden Toyota of Harlingen.

He says his success comes from many ingredients, including hard work and surrounding himself with talented people. But perhaps most of all, he credits Bert Ogden owners Bob and Janet Vackar.

They were the ones who opened the door to the business world to him when they hired him as a salesman straight out of college.

“They paved the way for me,” he said. “I’d have to say, Mrs. Vackar saw something in me, and believed in me more than I believed in myself at the time.

“She and Bob gave me an opportunity and I just worked diligently and passionately and I knew in my heart of hearts that I wouldn’t fail or disappoint them.

“Being successful was the only option.”

Burone has been working hard at being successful at least since his college days. He was a full-time student at the University of Texas-Brownsville when he took on a job with Brownsville advertising agency Breeden/McCumber. He worked full time during the day but continued his college studies at night.

“At the time, I was working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then I’d start school at 5:30. I’d get out of class at 10 p.m.,” he said.

“I’d do homework until probably midnight and start the day all over again the next day.”

At the ad agency he was doing “a little bit of everything,” including copy writing and some producing and editing on TV commercials. He was assigned to the Bert Ogden account, which is how he met Bob and Janet Vackar — shooting commercials.

“I’d get to show up to the shoots where Mrs. Vackar would be doing a TV commercial,” he said. “It seemed surreal working with her after only knowing her as a TV personality. She is every bit as warm and caring in person.”

At one point during this time, Janet Vackar said to him, “Why don’t you come work for us.”

“I’m not going to lie; I was a little intimidated. I had no idea what I was getting into,” he said. “But I felt that it would be a great opportunity and I just jumped in head first.”

But not before graduating from UTB with a bachelor’s in business administration in 2002. Right after that, he started as a car salesman at the original Bert Ogden dealership in Edinburg. His very first month on the job, he was named salesman of the month.

“I literally worked my way up the ranks and I will admit most every time they gave me an opportunity, I didn’t feel that I was fully prepared for it,” he said.

“But I would just graciously accept the opportunity and work as hard as I could until I accomplished it, I’d say, as well as anyone in the organization.”

But he would go on to do much more than that.

A big opportunity came his way when Bert Ogden spun off Cadillac from its Chevy/Cadillac dealership in Mission. Cadillac would move to its own, new building. That created a new position for Cadillac sales manager. But it wasn’t a coveted job.

“At the time, we weren’t selling a whole lot of Cadillacs. None of the sales managers wanted to be the sales manager for Cadillac because it was going to be independent of the Chevrolet building, which is where most of our volume was,” he said.

“So I volunteered and they accepted me to be the sales manager for Cadillac.”

That would prove to be a win-win decision. It’s been almost 10 years since Burone left the Cadillac store. Yet there are still sales records set by his team at the store that haven’t been broken.

“We were very blessed. We had a great team and we broke all kinds of records and won several awards through General Motors,” he said.

“It was a wonderful learning experience.”

From there, he would continue to grow through the ranks. He started as a salesman, then was promoted to floor manager, to sales manager, to general sales manager, then to general manager and partner.

FAMILY

Family is very important to Burone. As a child he wanted to grow up to be a business owner. He wanted to be successful in business because he wanted to have the ability to provide for his family.

Asked who his childhood heroes were, Burone answered, “My mother was my childhood hero.”

“The reason I always worked so hard is because I always wanted to provide for her and I wanted to take care of her,” he said.

He explained, “She always had the answers to my questions, a remedy to my problems and an abundance of love that superseded any problem life could throw at me. She continues to face every adversity head-on, never faltering from her principles.”

He concedes that being successful in business can have its sacrifices. But there are also rewards.

“The biggest sacrifice in the auto industry is the time you spend away from your loved ones. They say, love what you do and if you don’t love what you do, love who you are doing it for,” he said.

“I am blessed to both love what I do and who I’m doing it for.”

He added, “The reward is, you get to make a lot of new friends, because everyone has a car.”