Blog

More Than An Employee With the passing of Charley Furrer, the BK Ford team has lost a well-respected and loved member of our family. After dedicating almost 50 years of his life to the company (retiring in 1995), Charley was an integral part of the team, and his legacy will always be remembered. more Before starting his long tenure at BK Ford, Charley served in the United States Navy during World War II. His time in the military was a formative experience that shaped his character into the dedicated and admirable person BK Ford remembers him as. After completing his service, Charley joined the team at Bird Kultgen Ford, where he began his career as a mechanic's assistant earning just 25 cents per hour. With diligence and a positive attitude, Charley quickly made a name for himself as a skilled mechanic and hard worker. Throughout his long career, Charley exemplified the values of loyalty, hard work, and dedication. He steadily climbed the ranks, earning promotions and taking on more responsibility, eventually becoming the general manager of BK Ford, a role he held for 28 years. While we are deeply saddened by his passing, we take comfort in the fact that Charley's legacy will live on. His impact on the company, and the people he worked with, will be felt for years to come. We commemorate his life and thank him for the contributions he made to our community. Charley Furrer, 96, went to be with the Lord, February 13, 2023, surrounded by his loving family.

It is important to Bird Kultgen Ford to recognize outstanding team members. Every year our management team selects one individual who represents something special. This year, leadership nominated several worthy candidates. We narrowed the list based upon our core values of trust, excellence, servanthood, positive attitude and love for trucks (The F-150 is America's number one selling truck after all). more Our winner consistently delivers all of these with a passion to serve that is truly inspiring. He’s a servant at heart, putting others before himself. His gratitude, patience, and respect for our team and our customers sets him apart.  This person’s humility, character, high energy, servanthood, urgency, and self-motivation made him stand out. We are proud to announce David Reed as our 2021 Employee of the Year. David represents the parts team, selling parts mostly to our service department. David is a “car guy” that loves everything automotive and helping customers. He has a bachelors from Canadian Mennonite University and an associate degree in automotive refinishing from TSTC. His faith is an especially important part of his life and part of why he values the spirit of BK Ford. In his spare time, he enjoys working on older cars and trucks (currently his 1991 Ford Mustang), reading, and spending time with his family. Our team trusts David because of his ability to consistently deliver and go above and beyond. We are so excited to add David to our list of past honorees that includes Mike Kinser, Anette Davis, Stephanie Mirage, Vanessa Bounds, James Graves, Jack Palmer, Randol Langdale, Richard Solano, Alvin Jackson, Cathy Bryant, Cristi Allen, Tim Pietsch, Keith Cosby, Linda Gonce and many more.

Bird-Kultgen Ford is proud to announce the retirement of Peter Kultgen after 53 years of service and leadership at Bird-Kultgen Ford. Claire McDonald and Mark Stewart have been promoted to the roles of President and Vice-President. more Peter started his career at his grandfather J H. “Jack” Kultgen’s dealership in 1968 working part time after school, holidays and summers. Following his graduation from the University of Texas, Peter went to work full time in 1974. Peter proudly succeeded Jack in the 80s and operated the dealership with his brother Edward until Ed’s retirement in 2015. Peter will continue to assist with the transition and remain as an advisor for the dealership, and looks forward to continuing his leadership and work with countless civic and charity organizations. “It has been extremely gratifying to build Bird-Kultgen into the dealership it is today. I sincerely appreciate all the wonderful customers, friends, business partners and relationships I have been so fortunate to have made over these many years. I wish to thank many of the other dealers in our area for being good and honorable competitors. It has also been rewarding to watch Claire’s and Mark’s growth and development. They are good people, leaders, and great car dealers. I know they will take care of our customers and team and strive to make Waco a better place for everyone living here. I also want to thank all my family members for their support. The best is yet to come for Waco and Central Texas. Best wishes and God bless you all.” A celebration for Peter’s retirement and the dealership’s 85th anniversary is planned for October 1st, 2021. Peter’s daughter Claire started her career at the dealership in the early 90s washing cars, stocking parts, and selling cars in the summer while attending Baylor. After a 5-year career in the aviation industry in Maryland, she moved back to Waco and has spent the last 12 years learning and preparing for this leadership role. Claire and her husband Theo have 2 daughters. In their free time they enjoy outdoor adventures, spending time on Lake Waco, and are members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Claire is currently on the boards of the Dr Pepper Museum and TSTC Foundation and is the current chairwoman of the TADA Texas Dealer Academy. “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the Bird-Kultgen team into the future and to continue Bird-Kultgen’s legacy as Waco’s Ford dealership. Peter has worked hard to make sure I understand the business and how to take care of our customers and team the right way. I am proud to take the helm along with Mark, who shares the same passions and desires I have for the dealership and community. I’m grateful to our customers for your many years of support, and we will continue to work hard to earn your business every day, take care of your automotive needs, and make Waco better for everyone living here.” With 22 years of auto dealership experience, Mark Stewart joined Bird-Kultgen Ford in 2018. Mark is best known for his trustworthy sales approach, commercials, and his care and motivation for his dealership team. Mark is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the dealership. He is also a fourth generation Wacoan, having graduated from Midway High School and Baylor University. He and his wife Amanda have 2 sons, Clayton and Zach. They are members of First Methodist Waco. As a family, they enjoy sports, outdoors and being together. Mark also is a member of Partners, serving local Waco businesses. “It’s with great honor that I assume this leadership role with this great family and Waco business. I’m truly thankful for Peter’s trust in Claire and myself to continue the commitment to building something truly special that will last for many years to come. Our commitment to serving the customer and our team sets us apart. I’m excited for what Bird-Kultgen will do for our customers and the greater Waco community. The sky is truly the limit.” Bird-Kultgen has been Waco’s trusted Ford dealer since 1936. You can count on us to be fair, honest and affordable, and always committed to the tradition of quality service. We work hard to simplify the buying process, as well as provide excellent service from maintenance to service and collision repairs and make things easy and straightforward for our customers. Our passion for caring for Waco drives us daily, with our current charity focuses being: • Mustang Convertible Raffle kicking off in May, Benefitting Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry, • Free Mammograms to those in need in October with Baylor Scott and White Breast Center, • Automotive Scholarships for TSTC students, • Supporting young farmers and ranchers at the McLennan County Livestock Sale, • The Midway and Brazos Education Foundations, and dozens of other local charity projects. • We are also actively involved in the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, and the Baylor Bear Foundation Ford is the #1 selling brand in Texas and the United States, and the Ford F-150s is the best selling vehicle in America.

It is with great joy and sadness that we announce Bill Bullman's retirement from Bird-Kultgen. Bill's leaving marks the end of an era, he has been an integral part of Bird-Kultgen for almost 25 years! His dedication, charisma and caring nature have helped him find the perfect vehicle for over 2,000 customers. He has had quite a career, please enjoy this short video of him reminiscing and thanking his customers. more Since we are unable to have a proper retirement party for Bill we are inviting everyone to stop by before September 28th to sign his card and wish him farewell. If you cannot visit, please send him a message or give him a call, bbullman@bkford.com or 254.523.9713.

No matter your age or longevity in the automotive industry the excitement of getting a new car never gets old especially when it’s your first brand-new car! We are so excited for Jack Palmer and his wife, Sharon, on the purchase of a 2019 Ford Escape. Jack has worked at Bird Kultgen since 1972 when he asked his grandfather, Jack Motes, if he could help him secure a summer job. Motes, who ended up working for Bird Kultgen for 30 years, helped Jack attain a job in the newly opened freight department. more An insightful man, Jack realized he could climb the ranks from unloading freight to a position with greater responsibility if he learned to look up parts inventory and assist with mechanics. He was promoted to the parts department shortly after starting and then again to the front counter in 1980. This was a worrying move for him, but momentous. At that time, Mr. (Jack) Kultgen wanted to ensure Bird-Kultgen Ford was accommodating clientele from all races and backgrounds and make certain that all people felt comfortable coming in to the dealership.  He knew Jack Palmer was the perfect fit.  With his contagious positive attitude and upbeat disposition, Jack naturally brings joy to everyone around him. Jack’s initial summer job turned into a prosperous career as life events unfolded. He married his beautiful wife three short weeks after graduating high school and starting at Bird Kultgen. He has now been married for 47 wonderful years and has 5 grown boys and 2 beautiful grandchildren. He is incredibly thankful for the support the Kultgen’s have provided him, especially through the industry’s economic downturns and life’s challenges. Jack is an instrumental part of Bird Kultgen; he has worked with all the Kultgen’s in his tenure at the dealership and recalls fondly when Peter Kultgen first started working summers. We are incredibly grateful to have Jack as part of the family and wish him all the best with his new 2019 Ford Escape!

Bird Kultgen takes great pride in having the best employees. Our culture is built around family, respect, hard work and success. Due to this many of our employees have been here for several decades. Each year we take the time to honor one employee for their hard work and dedication. The 2019 winner was selected by our leadership team based on the following criteria: helpful, compassionate, driven, positive, and excellent at their job. more We are very honored to announce our 2019 Employee of the Year: Annette Landrum! Born and raised in Boerne, Texas, and joining our BK team 5 years ago, this employee and her husband have 3 kids, 2 little grandbabies, and loves Texas. Serving as the dispatcher in our service team, Annette is tasked with getting every service repair order written up and sent through to the shop as quickly and efficiently as possible. By intuitively pairing each RO to a technician with the perfect skill set and experience to do the job, this employee has found a method for working many repair orders simultaneously and seamlessly into the shop. She juggles multiple things at once, ensuring first and foremost that customers are cared for, technicians stay busy with work, and communication and production is running as proficiently as possible.   This year she dispatched over 21,000 service hours, plus helped manage the workload of Quick Lane and Collision tickets on top of that. She does “the extras”, too!  She helps coordinate the team breakfasts and prepares her very special salsa – yum!  She is always willing and eager to volunteer for a job, no matter how large or small.  She delivers parts to technicians, assists with large repair order analysis, motivates team members and keeps the atmosphere positive and encouraging, and goes above and beyond to meet the needs of our customers. Senior Master Technician Luke says, “Annette is like the work flow Housekeeper, making sure that every customer and repair order is taken care of. She’s always pushing everyone in a positive way.” Tim Pietsch, our used car manager said, “She keeps things moving, always has a positive attitude, and helps us take care of customers and sell cars.” Master Technician Wesley Leggett called her, “The Heart of the Shop”. Annette, we are very proud of you and proud to award you as our 2019 BK employee of the year. Congratulations!

Our 2018 Employee of the Year was selected by our leadership team based on the following criteria- helpful, compassionate, passionate, driven, positive, and being excellent at their job. more This employee was born right here in Waco and grew up in Robinson where she still lives today. In high school she was passionate about volleyball and still loves going to games! She joined our BK team in 1996 and was an amazing employee until her family moved away in 2002. In 2014 we had a rare opening come up in our accounting department, and Janet and Jennifer were very concerned about finding someone talented enough to fill it. Almost immediately this employee happened to call and ask if we knew of any openings in Waco because her family was moving home. "It’s a Sign from GOD." Jennifer exclaimed as she read the text. And that is how we were able to welcome her back to our family. She works hard at home too as a mom of 3, an in her free time she loves watching Hallmark Christmas moves year round. She was nominated because she is a very hard worker. She volunteers for EVERYTHING and always has a great attitude. She is willing to help everywhere and is always eager to learn. She does so much for our team, including paying our bills, billing car deals, many HR functions and party planning. Congratulations to our 2018 Employee of the Year...Stephanie Mirage!

by Claire Kultgen This month we got to know Mark Stewart, newly appointed General Manager here at Bird-Kultgen Ford.  We’re so pleased to have Mark on our team, and we wanted to take a moment to highlight him here on our blog.  We asked Mark a few questions about his background and professional experiences, and he’s graciously allowed us to share those insights with you! Born and raised here in Waco, Mark considers this his forever-home.  A fourth generation Wacoan, he attended high school at Midway High, graduated from Baylor University, met his wife, and decided to plant roots of his own and raise a family here.  Mark is immensely proud of his family, and dedicates as much time with them as he’s able to. He has two boys, both involved in sports, which is a fun activity that occupies a lot of their time as a family.  When he’s not with his family, he enjoys anything in the realm of sports and the outdoors. Being from Waco, and having Baylor alum parents as well, Mark considers himself a Baylor guy through and through. A Baylor fan in the good days and the bad, Mark also enjoys Dallas Cowboys football and Texas Rangers baseball. When the opportunity arose for Mark to lead the BK team, a local and family-owned company, he took it without hesitation.  “Bird-Kultgen Ford, it’s a family-owned and operated business. I want to help the Kultgen family operate their business and make a positive impact in Waco. Being in Waco is important. It’s my home. I’ve always respected Ford, its way of doing business, and its ability to build the best product.  My first vehicle was a 1985 Ford Bronco. Ford’s ability to innovate and thrive for over 100 years is inspiring.” While his tenure with BK Ford is just getting started, it’s evident that Mark is in the right business.  “Whether it’s finding their dream car, fitting one into a budget or finding a creative way to help someone with a repair concern, my favorite thing is being around cars and people that love them. I love the satisfaction of helping people with their auto needs.” “I love the people. We have a great group of people at BK Ford with high moral character. We also have a wonderful customer base that loves Ford and Bird-Kultgen. It’s fun to be around every day.” Welcome to the BK team, Mark!