Horatio-Alger Award Recipient

CL Werner was the recipient of the 2012 Horatio Alger Award. The award recognizes contemporary role models whose experiences exemplify that opportunities for a successful life are available to all individuals who are dedicated to the principles of integrity, hard work, perseverance and compassion for others.

The third of seven children, Clarence “CL” Werner was born on a farm in 1937 in Peterburg, Nebraska. CL’s family suffered through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years. Their home had no insulation, hot running water, or electricity; the only heat came from a potbellied stove, and the only light came from kerosene lamps. In the winter, the cracks around the windows allowed snow to blow in and settle on top of the quilts on the beds. But the Werner children took those circumstances in stride.

“If there was snow on top of the covers in the morning, we just shook it off,” says CL. “We were a happy family. We thought we had it better than the kids in the city. We had the wide outdoors and the rolling hills. After a new snow, we took out toboggans and played until the sun went down, and then we would go in and do our homework by the light of the kerosene lamps. But we worked most days. I learned to drive a tractor at the age of seven and was driving pickup trucks by the time I was ten. It was a good life.”

Although CL enjoyed spending time with his family, everyone worked hard to make a go of the farm. “Most of our income came from the sale of milk, cream, eggs and livestock,” he says. “We would get up at five, do a few chores, and then harness our horse to the buggy and go to school. When we returned home there were more chores awaiting us.”

CL’s mother was Catholic—as were most families in the area—and the Werner children attended a Catholic school. CL was a good student, but education was not a priority in his family. It was thought in those days that education was more for those raised in the cities. “I grew up on a farm and had all intentions of being a farmer,” he says. “I left school in the ninth grade to work on the farm full time. But by the time I was 18 there was a bad drought, and the farm couldn’t support all of us, so I went to Omaha to find work.”

CL got a job braking out castings from hot moldings in a steel foundry. He was used to hard work and long hours on the farm, so his eight-hour shift in the foundry made him feel he should have a second job. But times were tough, and he could not find anything. By then he was 19 and married.

CL eventually decided he would go into business for himself. He knew how to drive trucks, so he sold his car, bought a 1956 Ford, and built his own trailer for hauling. “My grandfather had a little welding shop on his farm,” says CL. “When I was little, I was the only grandchild out of 36 who was interested in learning how to weld. My grandfather helped me build the trailer for my truck.”

One year after starting his business, CL bought a diesel truck and then a second one in 1959. He began to grow his trucking business slowly and steadily. By 1965 he had 15 trucks. CL moved his company out of his 800-square-foot home into a small shop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The fleet expanded to 10 Freightliners in 1971. Eventually, he had 100 trucks on the road and gross sales exceeding $6 million.

Werner Enterprises built its new headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska in 1977. The company went public in 1986 with a fleet of 630 trucks. By the mid-1990s the fleet had grown to 4,000.

In 1999, Werner Enterprises expanded to Mexico and Canada. By 2006 the company had become a global transportation and logistics provider. CL served as Chief Executive Officer from 1984 until 2007 and was Chairman of the Board from 1984 to 2011. He served as Chairman Emeritus from 2011 to 2015, at which time he was reelected as Chairman and assumed the responsibility of Chief Executive Officer once again.

In 2016 CL became Executive Chairman and served until May of 2021. CL now serves as Chairman Emeritus and remains the proud founder of one of the largest transportation and logistics companies in the country.

“I could drive only one truck, so it took a lot of people to build this company to what it is today,” CL says when asked about his success. “I learned from my peers. I watched successful people in the business and tried not to make the mistakes some of them made. I surrounded myself with good people. I watched out for opportunities and tried to take advantage of them. I didn’t set out to be a $2 billion carrier. I was successful with 50 trucks, and I could have just left it at that, but then I saw some opportunities and it all just seemed to happen. I didn’t set out to be successful, but I sure didn’t want to fail. I think that’s what drove me.”

CL advises young people to follow their passions—just as he did. “Find what you like to do, and then work hard at it,” he says. “There is no set pattern for success. You don’t have to copy others and try to make yourself do something you don’t like. It takes a lot of people to make this world go around.”

Throughout the years, CL never lost his love for the land, nor his love of trucking. Multiple accounts describe the friendship and support he bestows on those who work with and for him. In addition to the Horatio Alger Award, his honors include the Distinguished Service Award from the Military Officers Association of America; the Distinguished Benefactor Award from the Archdiocese of Omaha; the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall of Fame; the Omaha Business Hall of Fame; the Distinguished Entrepreneur Award from the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship; the Centennial Citizen of the Year award from the Boy Scouts of America’s Mid-American Council; and the University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding support. In 2018 CL was the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree through Creighton University.

Both personally and with his wife, Rachel, and through the CL Werner Foundation, CL has given millions of dollars in gifts and grants to well-managed organization that encourage faith, family, health and community. CL especially focuses on helping those who suffer from adversity, want to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and realize their potential. CL says, “Teach people what to do, then let them do it.”