Ron Bergan was born and raised in Dunn County, ND. Mr. Bergan received his Bachelor of Science in Animal Science in 1965 and Masters of Science in 1966 in Agricultural Economics from North Dakota State University. While at NDSU he met and married Mary Alice Berg. Following graduation, Ron worked in the NDSU Agricultural Economics Department for a year before joining Keifer Realty as a salesman before starting his own real estate company.

In 1975, Mr. Bergan, his brother Curt, and Gary Zespy bought a small West Fargo company (two employees) that made wire harnesses and moved the company to Fargo as an investment. Within a few months, the fledgling company named Fargo Assembly took all of Ron’s time, and he dropped real estate.

By 1985, the company had 40 employees, and Ron bought out his two partners. Mary Alice joined the company and became the CFO and treasurer. Since then the company has grown to a total of seven plants in North Dakota (two in Fargo; one each in Lisbon, Edgeley, Ellendale, Michigan, and Lehr) with approximately 800 employees. Ron believes in the North Dakota small town work ethic and has tried to incorporate that into the business. Fargo Assembly’s business model of small town plants is their answer to “low cost countries”. 

Ron has always sought to remain competitive in the constantly changing world of manufacturing. He has been blessed with being able to hire very good and innovative workers who have designed and built much of the equipment used today. Computer programs written by Fargo Assembly people are used in all aspects of the wire harness business and are a big part of making it successful. He also credits his retired president of 13 years, Harold Legreid, with the expansion into small North Dakota towns as well as the hiring of new Americans in large numbers. Mary Alice continues to be a key person in the company.

In their spare time Ron and Mary Alice love to watch most of the NDSU athletic teams.