Related Organizations | The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress |

Alliance Member Updates | July 2008

To keep Alliance members current with the happenings of the various Alliance task forces and committees between the April and fall meetings, an electronic update concerning the Alliance's activities will be issued. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Bennett Judson, the Alliance's executive director, at (800) 323-9545, ext. 7513 or bjudson@roofingindustryalliance.net.

New members

We'd like to begin by welcoming our newest Alliance members — Vin Perella, Roofing Supply Group LLC, Dallas and David Workman, RoofConnect, Sheridan, Ark. We look forward to their participation and involvement. Alliance membership currently stands at 122 active members — 90 contractors, 29 manufacturers and suppliers and three individuals. There are 29 associates who have made one-time contributions.

Finances

Total Alliance assets as of May 31, 2008, were $9,882,926 compared with $10,031,418 as of May 31, 2007. Alliance investments with Wachovia as of May 31, 2008, totaled $9,866,779 compared with $10,014,779 as of May 31, 2007. Total National Roofing Foundation and Alliance assets totaled $10,506,372 as of May 31, 2008 compared with $10,452,871 as of May 31, 2007. Total commitments to the Alliance fund as of May 31, 2008 are $10,487,332 with $10,119,677 collected to date.

The 2008-09 Alliance board of trustees is as follows:

Bob Bueche, president
Pioneer Roofing Co., Phoenix

Reid Ribble, vice president
The Ribble Group Inc., Kaukauna, Wis.

Chip Martin, secretary/treasurer
CRS Inc., College Park, Ga.

Dane Bradford
Bradford Roof Management, Billings, Mont.

Marve Feucht
CNA, Chicago

Jim Giese
Jim Giese Commercial Roofing Inc., Dubuque, Iowa

Mike Gorey
Firestone Building Products Co., Indianapolis

William Hamlin Jr.
Hamlin Roofing Co. Inc., Garner, N.C.

Glenn Jones
Centimark Corp., West Chicago, Ill.

Conrad Kawulok
B & M Roofing of Colorado Inc., Frederick, Colo.

Jim MacKimm
Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., Somerville, Mass.

R. Bruce McCrory
Kiker Corp., Mobile, Ala.

Robert McNamara
F.J.A. Christiansen Roofing. Co., Milwaukee, a Tecta America company

John P. Plescia
Star Roofing Inc., Phoenix

Rick Steinrock, NRCA vice president liaison
American Roofing & Metal Co. Inc., Louisville, Ky.

Bill Taylor
D.C. Taylor Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Gary Wolfe
Wolfe Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc., Reading, Pa.

Fundraising and development plan

Barbara Talisman with Talisman Associates, Chicago, reported to Alliance members at the April meeting that the Alliance has two fundraising goals: to increase the number of Alliance members and money raised to support Alliance activities — this will allow the Alliance to continue and expand funding of research programs important to the industry; and to raise a permanent endowment of $2 million for the Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program — this will allow the scholarship program to increase annual awards.

She explained that the approach for prospective Alliance members is a three-part task: commit to the Alliance general fund; commit to an annual contribution after their original commitment has been fulfilled; and make a contribution to the Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Fund. For current Alliance members, it's a two-part task: commit to an annual contribution after the original commitment has been fulfilled; and contribute to the Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Fund.

She explained that fundraising efforts are not limited to the Finance and Financial Development Committee — the entire Alliance membership needs to work to meet the fundraising goals if the Alliance is to be successful.

Alliance scholarships

Current scholarship program

The Alliance board of trustees selected the following students to receive $1,000 each as part of the current scholarship program for the 2008-09 school year.

Jennifer Baxter, Carthage, Tenn., daughter of Chris Baxter, estimator/project manager for Rackley Roofing Co. Inc., Carthage, Tenn.

Brittany Cook, Naperville, Ill., daughter of John Cook, vice president of GBA, Lisle, Ill.

Jason Hartman, Nashville, Tenn., son of Kenneth Hartman, senior project manager for Ford Roofing Co., LLC, Franklin, Tenn.

In addition to the selection of these three new scholarship recipients, the board approved nine renewals.

NEW Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program

The Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program is the Alliance's new expanded scholarship program. The first awards for the new program will be given for the 2009-10 school year.

Program details and the application form will be available in early fall 2008. The basic format of the current scholarship program will remain the same. However, there are three significant changes to the new program:

• All NRCA members (except for industrial/institutional and international) or the spouse or dependent child of a qualifying employee now are eligible. Previously, only NRCA contractor member firms were eligible.
  
  
• The annual awards have been increased from $1,000 per student to $5,000 per student.
  
  
• Students now must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.

Current scholarship commitments will be honored unless recipients would like to be considered for the new scholarship program.

Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship program fundraising campaign

The new scholarship program has been named after Melvin Kruger, chief executive officer of L.E. Schwartz & Son Inc., Macon, Ga. Melvin is a former NRCA president, served as a member of the Georgia Education Commission and was a driving force in the creation of the Roofing Industry Educational Institute in 1979. He also was the principal fundraiser at the time the Alliance was established.

The campaign goal is to secure pledges for the new program so commitments will total $2 million. This would allow the Alliance to award a total of 25 $5,000 scholarships.

Why give?

The Alliance has a history of commitment to education, training and scholarship. The Melvin Kruger Endowed Scholarship Program is an important part of the Alliance. It broadens its outreach into the community and provides financial support for students continuing their education and training beyond high school.

At the recent Alliance meeting in Florida, Alliance President Gary Wolfe challenged the Alliance members present to pledge to the fund. As a result of his challenge, $226,000 in pledges were raised during the two-day meeting. Total funds pledged to date is $1,538,000.

All Alliance members are asked to help the Alliance reach its $2 million goal. If you haven't made a pledge yet, you can do so by contacting Alliance staff or visiting the Web site at www.roofingindustryalliance.net to download a response form.

Gifts to the scholarship program support educational opportunities for the future of the roofing industry and country. Gifts to the scholarship program are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law and can be paid over a period of up to and including five years.

Your gift of $25,000 over five years will support scholarship, help the Alliance reach its goal and honor Melvin for all his work.

You can make your mark on the future of the roofing industry through a named scholarship fund. Your fund can be established in your name (or your company's name). Those who commit a minimum of $100,000 to the new fund can choose to name a scholarship and participate in the selection of the recipient each year.

A special thanks goes out to those who helping us achieve our goal.

$250,000
Firestone Building Products Co., Indianapolis

$100,000
The Mountain Co., Vienna, W.Va.
NRCA, Rosemont, Ill.

$50,000
Commercial Roofing Specialties Inc., Larry Burns, Chip Martin, Warren Teague, Doraville, Ga.
John Miller, Ross, Calif.

$25,000
Robert Bueche, Pioneer Roofing, Phoenix
F.J. Dahill Co., Jamie McAdam, New Haven, Conn.
John and Mary Gooding, Gooding Simpson and Mackes Inc., Ephrata, Pa.
The Hamlin Family, Hamlin Roofing, Garner, N.C.
Gail Kruger Krapf, Macon, Ga.
Dan Murphy, Longmeadow, Mass.
OMG Roofing Products, Geoff Craft, Agawam, Mass.
L.E. Schwartz & Son, Steve Kruger, Macon, Ga.
Siplast, Irving, Texas
Stephen and Melinda Sutter, Sutter Roofing Co. of Florida, Sarasota, Fla.
Gary and Mary Wolfe, Wolfe Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc., Reading, Pa.

$10,000
CNA Foundation, Marve Feucht, Chicago
Commercial Roofers Inc., Dennis Conway, Scott Howard, Las Vegas
Jim Giese Commercial Roofing Co. Inc., Jim Giese, Dubuque, Iowa
Jurin Roofing Services, Inc., Eric Jurin, Quakertown, Pa.
United Materials, Beth Gloss, Denver

$5,000
Rob McNamara, FJA Christiansen Roofing Co. Inc., Milwaukee, a Tecta America company
Reid Ribble, The Ribble Group, Kaukauna, Wis.

Other
Boston Roofing Industry Promotion Fund, Thomas Gunning, Braintree, Mass.
Robert (Country) Harrison, Greenville, S.C.
Mary Mai, Washington, D.C.
Tom and Fran Manson, Leawood, Kan.
P.J. McTavish & Co. Inc., Burtonsville, Md.
North/East Roofing Contractors Association
J.A. Piper Roofing Co., Rodney Piper Jr., Greenville, S.C.
Talisman Associates Inc., Barbara Talisman, Chicago

"Helping Our Own" charitable giving program

As of the April meeting, there had been no nominations received for the Helping our Own Program. At that time, the Alliance Balanced Program Committee believed the program still has validity and provides a balance to the type of programs supported by the Alliance in its efforts to affect more lives in the roofing industry. Therefore, the committee's recommendation was that the program remain in place and any applications received be brought before the Alliance for approval on an as-needed basis.

Since the meetings, the first official nomination has been received, reviewed and approved by the Alliance Board of Trustees. The nomination came in through Alliance member Nelson Braddy of King of Texas Roofing Co. The request is for an employee of his who has had devastating crises hit his family. He has two young children, one of which was diagnosed with epilepsy a year ago. In addition, his wife recently became ill and paralyzed. She was undergoing treatments for the paralysis when she received a diagnosis of a devastating neurological disease. Now, she has been diagnosed with cancer in her spine.

The request is for financial assistance with day care expenses for the two small children because the family has no other family in the area and for assistance with medical treatment costs.

Identification and Management of Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Roofing Industry

The ergonomics study conducted by Thomas E. Glavanich, D.E., P.E., of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, is finished! The findings of the study are published in Identification and Management of Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Roofing Industry.

This report identifies best practices for reducing repetitive-stress injuries through roofing worker education; the redesign of work activities; and improved design of tools, equipment and materials used to perform the work. The report promotes a proactive approach to ergonomics through risk management by identifying and mitigating factors that may contribute to worker injury or illness.

A complimentary copy was mailed to each Alliance member firm. Additional copies are available for sale through the NRCA Bookstore at $40 to NRCA members and $80 to nonmembers.

Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards program

The Alliance's MVP Task Force met in December 2007 and selected eight winners out of 34 entries that had been submitted. The winners were flown to Las Vegas where they were recognized at the NRCA Luncheon on Friday, Feb. 22. The number of submissions was less than previous years; however, the program continues to be a rewarding experience for those who participate. The 2007-08 winners are listed online at www.roofingindustryalliance.net. Promotion for the 2008-09 program will begin in late summer 2008. All Alliance members are strongly encouraged to participate in the program.

Get Rewarded for Education and Advancement Training (GREAT) Program

The $25,000 previously approved by the Alliance for the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative was twofold: to show the roofing industry wanted to partner with other construction trade groups and associations who share in the goal of recruiting and training new construction craft workers for the Gulf Coast region by the end of 2009; and to assist with promotional efforts to get the word out about the training program.

The GREAT program seeks to address the critical work force shortages facing the Gulf Coast following the 2005 hurricanes. The need for skilled craft professionals in the reconstruction effort has exceeded the supply, and work force shortages threaten to disrupt rebuilding of the Gulf.

Throughout the region, contractors are in need of skilled laborers — but few residents have the training or degrees necessary to fulfill the demands of these important positions. The GREAT program is designed to solve this problem.

The Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative, a partnership of public and private organizations, is committed to addressing critical Gulf Coast work force shortages through the GREAT program. As the recruitment arm of the Initiative, GREAT's goal is to recruit up to 20,000 new construction trainees by the end of 2009. As of December 2008, the number of trainees who have completed the initial, four-week training program was 15,939.

This initial four-week construction training uses a National Center for Construction Education and Research Pathways to Construction curriculum. The primary focus of this curriculum is commercial construction and includes completion of an OSHA 10-hour safety course.

The roofing industry's challenge is getting roofing contractors to take on a more active role in recruiting the students who are completing the initial four-week course and getting a roofing-specific curriculum in place at the schools.

From this point on, the Alliance will be in an information-providing role only because funds currently are not available for the additional staff time and effort needed to aggressively promote the program to roofing contractors.

Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing (CEIR)

The Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing (CEIR) was established by NRCA as a separate 501 (c) (6) organization to promote the development and use of environmentally responsible, high-performance roof systems.

The center plans to pursue two educational initiatives in the coming year. First, the center will develop a "Greening of the Roof" presentation, which can be sponsored locally by founding members. The goals of the program are to increase awareness about the green building movement and its effect on roofing; raise the "green" image of the roofing industry; and facilitate long-term business opportunities for center members and affiliates.

Second, NRCA and the center have relocated the SpecRight Program to the center. The center's mission is to provide a forum that will draw together the entire roofing industry to the common cause of promoting the knowledge base, development and use of environmentally responsible, high-performance roof systems. Incorporating the SpecRight Program into the center's operations seemed like an ideal fit.

NRCA and other industry partners developed the SpecRight Program. As the program moves to the center, NRCA will remain involved in the program's evolution. And importantly, the program's goal will remain the same — to provide useful, consistent and up-to-date information about roofs, energy and the environment.

Every month, e-Briefings from the Center will be delivered by e-mail and posted on SpecRight's Web site — www.specright.net — just as it is currently. e-Briefings from the Center will continue to provide a review of key issues affecting the roofing industry, energy and the environment.

Partnership with Penn State University

During the past fiscal year, the Alliance provided Penn State with $100,000 in funding for research in three main areas.

The first project funded at a level of $25,000 was in the form of a sponsorship of the 2007 Penn State Solar Decathlon Team. Interaction between the roofing industry and Penn State played a vital role in the success of the team, including materials suppliers and contractors who worked closely with the team. During the decathlon, a special tour of the Penn State home was held for NRCA and Alliance members attending NRCA's Fall Committee Meetings, and a progress presentation was made to the Alliance members. The Solar Decathlon home is currently on the Penn State campus at a temporary site near Penn State Football's Beaver Stadium. With funding secured from the state of Pennsylvania, design and construction plans for the permanent foundation for the home are in progress. A permanent 18- by 24-inch slate patio paver will recognize the $25,000 contribution from the Alliance when the home is completed.

The second project funded by the Alliance in the amount of $30,00 was an initial assessment of the role of the roofing industry on green building projects with a particular emphasis on the solar energy market. This project was completed through interviews with roofing contractors, an assessment of the trends in green building, and a current assessment of solar photovoltaic (PV) materials and markets. This project produced a summary of the green building market in the form of a power point presentation and also identified opportunities for roofing contractors to differentiate themselves through growing competencies in green building project requirements. The growth of the solar market was identified as an important opportunity for the roofing industry. Recommendations for future research include an assessment of contracting strategies for solar markets and also the implications of new PV materials on the roofing industry. The results of this project were presented at the International Roofing Exposition on Feb. 21, 2008 in Las Vegas.

The third project is "Evaluation of the Green Roof "R-Value." It is still under way and is being conducted by Jelena Srebric, Ph.D., associate professor of architectural engineering at Penn State. Following is an excerpt from Srebric's latest update on her work:

"On-site studies of green thermal performance results in wide range of estimated R-values for this roofing material. After in depth review of the literature, we found that the intensive green roof R-values varied anywhere between 5 and 20 (ft2 h °F/Btu), even for the same roof, but under different weather conditions. The main reason for this wide variation is the green roof moisture content during the measurements. This kind of variable performance is not good for design practice as the building designers are never sure how a green roof would actually perform. To resolve this problem and equip designers with practical tools, Dr. Srebric proposed to develop an R-function to capture the real thermal performance of green roofs in different U.S. climates. The concept or R-function is completely new, but it is just an extension of the existing R-value widely used in practice. The idea of the green roof R-function was recently shaped by Paulo Cesare Tabares-Velasco, Dr. Srebric's graduate student, as a sum of R-values for media and R-value for plants.

The study on R-function for the green roof plants is also underway. Our test apparatus defined in the previous two reports is the key for successful development of this function. There are no measured data available to develop this function, and we spent quite some time developing the apparatus to replicate all of the key environmental parameters, which influence the thermal performance of green roof plants. At present, the apparatus is put together and is fully functional with all of its systems. However, when the plant samples are full wet, they are too heavy for the scale platform installed to continuously measure the sample weight for assessment of evapotranspiration. We are currently decreasing the weight by separating the lamp system from the insulation box and we still might have to remove some of the plywood material.

As this project is progressing, we area already thinking about future research steps based on the current results. There is a need for a follow up measurement of an entire database of different media and plan materials to enable widespread use of the proposed R-function. In the future, the potential for integration of green roof technology with the building HVAC systems is truly exciting. Green roofs can actually reduce peak HVAC loads during hot summer days. Even in case of extremely dry periods, plants can be watered to save on electric bills by enhancing green roof evaporative cooling."

Wall of Wind

In January 2008, the Alliance executed a gift agreement with Florida International University to provide $100,000 in funding to support the Wall of Wind, a full-scale hurricane simulation and destructive testing facility of the International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) and College of Engineering and Computing.

The 8,000-square-foot Wall of Wind facility was built to house the current six-fan unit and accommodate a large electric fan array. This incremental strategy is designed to facilitate development of an even further expanded testing capability. A turntable has been manufactured to study directional wind effects on full-scale roof systems.

Future Meetings

The next Alliance meeting is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 at The Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. The meeting is being held during NRCA's Fall Committee Meetings and Legislative Conference.

Mark your calendars with the following future Alliance meeting dates.

April 23-25, 2009
Four Seasons Resort and Club at Las Colinas
Irving, Texas

Fall 2009
NRCA's Fall Committee Meetings/Legislative Conference
The Washington Court Hotel, Washington, D.C.

April 15-17, 2010
Four Seasons Resort Aviara North San Diego
Carlsbad, Calif.

Fall 2010
NRCA's Fall Committee Meetings/Legislative Conference
The Washington Court Hotel, Washington, D.C.

April 14-16, 2011
Ritz-Carlton Resort
Sarasota, Fla.

For questions or more information about the Alliance, contact:

Bennett Judson
Executive Director
The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress
10255 W. Higgins, Suite 600
Rosemont, Ill. 60018-5607
Phone: (800) 323-9545, ext. 7513
Fax: (847) 493-7959
E-mail: bjudson@roofingindustryalliance.net
www.roofingindustryalliance.net