Editor’s Note: Raymond P. Koenig, former President and CEO at Koenig Equipment, passed away at age 78 on Dec. 14, 2024, days after the family was notified of his induction to the 2025 Class of the Farm Equipment Dealer Hall of Fame.
Known for his innovative approach to business and his dedication to dealership sustainability and profitability, Raymond P. Koenig was respected by peers as a forward-thinking leader and transformative force in the agricultural equipment industry.
Under his leadership, the family-owned business evolved into Koenig Equipment Inc., a successful multi-location John Deere dealership and, for a time, Case IH dealership. During his career Koenig served as the dealership’s sales manager, general manager, president, CEO and chairman.
Name: Raymond P. Koenig (1946-2024)
Dealership: Koenig Equipment
Location: Botkins, Ohio
Primary Lines: John Deere, Ariens, Ferris, Gravely, Stihl, Ventrac
Locations: 15 locations in Southeastern Indiana and Southwestern Ohio
His nephews, Aaron as CEO and Adam as CFO, have grown the dealership to its current 15 locations, and many members of the 4th generation work alongside them.
Koenig earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio (1968) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1974), serving in the U.S. Navy in between. He began his professional journey at John Deere headquarters in Moline, Ill., before returning to his family’s business in Botkins, Ohio.
Koenig was deeply involved in industry leadership through dealer associations. His contributions to the field were widely recognized, with features in industry publications spanning three decades and inclusion in a college textbook on achieving family business continuity, according to his nephew Aaron Koenig.
In the early 1980s, he was one of a handful of dealers invited by John Deere to speak to investors and the financial press with the hope of attracting capital to the then-struggling manufacturer. In addition, he served as CEO of Wilson Memorial Hospital in Sidney, Ohio, while guiding the dealership from one to an eventual 11 locations.
The Vital Role of Relationships in Driving Dealer Success
From his own family to OEM territory managers to association leaders, Ray’s impact on the industry might best be defined by one word: relationships. With a focused priority on customers, Koenig took on additional roles — alongside his brothers and sister, and the important mentoring of his nephews to take over management duties. What follows are three different perspectives on the late Raymond Koenig, in their own words.
Aaron Koenig, CEO, Koenig Equipment, Botkins, Ohio. “He was my professional mentor, so he meant a lot to me — not only professionally but personally — in large part because he saw potential in me that I didn't see in myself. His insightfulness could be described many ways, but I mainly think of him as a visionary. He would describe things about the business and where it was going that seemed impossible to me. Then a few years down the road, virtually everything he suggested had become a reality. He was also quite an innovator and a calculated risk-taker.
“He was always willing to try out ideas that were new or different, or to which others said, ‘You can’t do that in the ag industry.’ He’d set out to prove them wrong, and most oftentimes did.
“One thing I took away from Ray is the importance of independence — to always protect your identity and what's important to you. Don't just focus on size as much as performance. Bigger isn't better, better is better…” – Aaron Koenig, CEO , Koenig Equipment
“As my mentor, there is so much that I took away from Ray. When I would come with challenges or questions, very rarely did he give me the answer. Instead, he would ask additional questions that would make me think through the problem and come up with the solution on my own. He’d say, ‘I think you’ve got the answer, maybe you just weren't asking the right questions.’”
“Mainly, Ray was a lifelong learner. He was one of the first dealers to have a fiduciary board to which he reported. He served as CEO of a hospital and led fundraising campaigns for United Way in search of best practices that could be applied to the dealership.”
A Growth Mindset & Guts
When Ray came back to the dealership in the mid-1970s, we were a 1-location family business. A handful of employees, his father and two uncles were active in the business, but Ray served to professionalize the dealership, departmentalize it, specialize it, incorporate it.
We became Koenig Equipment at that time and made our first acquisition of a neighboring dealer who was in his 90s, and Ray clearly much younger (early 30s). That was an interesting acquisition to get done, with shareholders across the country. Farmers were just beginning to consider consolidation, so Ray anticipated that dealerships would do the very same thing. It was his vision for what dealerships would be in the future.
“Then Ray did something in 2002 that I don't know if anyone's done before or will ever do again, and that is when Koenig Equipment acquired Case IH dealerships. We’d been a long time John Deere dealership, and still are. Despite many people saying, ‘There's no way you could do that, neither manufacturer will let that happen,’ he managed to do it.
Raising the Bar with Relationships & Results
Dave Kahler led various equipment dealer associations over 50 years, retiring as president of the Ohio Equipment Dealers Assn. in 2009, then serving part time as associate director until 2019.
“I first met Ray when he was working on his Master's Degree at Harvard. He called to ask me to do a little research for his Master’s thesis on the farm equipment industry,” Kahler says. “He was a very in-depth thinker. He always took a different view of the equipment industry, trying things no one else would. He was quite an individual.”
Kahler recounts Ray was one of the first dealers to provide preseason and post harvest maintenance programs on planters and combines. “I thought that was a fantastic program as at the time I didn't know of any other dealerships doing that,” explains Kahler.
“His leadership abilities allowed him to become extremely active. Cream rises to the top and that was Ray,” he says. Ray Koenig served on the Farm and Power Equipment Retailers Board from 1980-87 and was president from 1985-86. The Michigan and Ohio groups merged in 1996 and became OMEDA, the Ohio Michigan Equipment Dealers Assn. Ray served as national director from 1997-99. For just over 2 years, OMEDA was disaffiliated with the national organization as a result of what Ray saw as significant flaws, ranging from inadequate personal dealer contact to a lack of federal representation.
“I worked with nearly 12 different directors. Ray's years were different from any others. He got things changed at NAEDA that nobody else was able to do, helping NAEDA become a stronger national association.” Kahler noted that having the organization’s representatives visit dealerships, creating a team working on advocacy in Washington, D.C. and having stronger manufacturer relationships are some of the ways Koenig’s leadership helped create those improvements.
“I applaud him for his courage for having done that. It wasn't until about 2017 that I began to take over the dealership, and by that time we were up to 11 locations. He'd grown it from one to 11 stores, and we’d gone from essentially one county to 40-plus counties in two states.
“From 2002-17, we operated both Case IH and John Deere dealerships in separate states. We were in Ohio with John Deere and Northern Indiana with our Case IH stores. We did it successfully, and it was certainly a challenge, but in 2017 made the decision to consolidate those dealerships, sell off the Case IH locations and acquire more John Deere locations, which got us to our current location count of 15.
A Family Constitution & Governance
“I think in part our success and longevity has to do with professional governance and intentional full disclosure transition of ownership. Uncle Ray had the foresight to keep in our library at our corporate office a copy of the original sale agreement when my great-grandfather sold the business to his three sons. All five signed it, so all knew exactly what was going on and who was getting what and how things were to go. That set the example. Ray put that into practice in the transition when adding new stores.
“Professional governance was always important, so we sought advice from industry experts. We met as a family and talked about what we wanted the future of the dealership to be not in 5 years but in 50 years, and how to get there. We determined that despite the governance and bylaws we had, we needed additional governance to manage the relationships of a family business.
“That’s when we drafted and still have today our family constitution. It defines family employment policy and keeps us all in line and in agreement. When we come up against a difficult decision, we go to the documents and ask, ‘What did we agree on and what does it tell us to do?’ It’s worked fabulously and he set the foundation for what will come after.