Norman Asbjornson on personal life
From Press conference: Norm Asbjornson's $50 million gift to engineering at Montana State University · · Montana State University
“I said yes I am going to do that and we collectively said you know something a marriage's not working real well maybe this is the time that I'm going to go do what I want and you go do what you want and we sat down and divided it up and recognizing as I did that she had had an extraordinarily fine education had given it all up to raise the children I said there's your half and there her half was almost all of our net worth.”
On , Norman Asbjornson, Founder & Director at AAON INC, spoke about personal life during Press conference: Norm Asbjornson's $50 million gift to engineering at Montana State University on Montana State University.
About Norman Asbjornson
Norman Asbjornson, founder and director of AAON, committed $50 million to Montana State University’s College of Engineering in 2014. At a press conference announcing the gift, Asbjornson said he considered it a responsibility to give back to those who helped him succeed, including MSU and his hometown of Winifred, Montana. He placed stock in escrow to guarantee the donation and encouraged others to contribute to the university’s plans for an innovative, collaborative educational structure. Asbjornson also reflected on his career and personal philosophy. He described being recruited to lead a small Tulsa, Oklahoma company, which he grew into AAON, citing 25 consecutive years of 10.8% compounded growth. He attributed his success to lessons in honesty from his parents, emphasizing the importance of self-honesty and learning from failure. He noted that he considered being born in the United States a privilege and shared his view that those who are most successful have often failed the most.