From the Desk of the NWIR Chair
Jennifer Stone, GRP, LEED GA, Preferred Accounts at Johns Manville & NWIR Chair
Recruitment
Michelle Boykin, Rackley Roofing; NWIR Recruitment Committee
NWIR Welcomes the Purple Purse Project!
During the 2019 NWIR Day, Heidi J. Ellsworth, NWIR Past Chair, was thrilled to announce an ongoing pilot with Purple Purse. Purples Purse is part of the Allstate Foundation helping women escape financial abuse which is a large but unheard part of domestic violence. Read the full article here.
MENTORING
Chelsea Steinbock, RoofConnect & Melissa Walker, Johns Manville; NWIR Membership Committee
NWIR Day was a complete success again! It was so enjoyable to be a part of such a large group of empowering women. The speed dating event went flawlessly. There were so many topics for mentees to choose from to talk to a mentor – I personally enjoyed being a mentor for the topic of career progression. I got to talk to so many women that wanted to hear my story and how I got to where I am in my career today. NWIR Day was inspiring on so many levels. The impact and growth from this day that I had personally and that we had as a committee was so encouraging. I am blessed to work for a company that allows me to be so active and present within this great group of industry leaders and I encourage everyone to become a member. The benefit from the networking, education, and mentoring aspects that you get to be a part of are priceless. No matter where you are at in your career within the roofing industry, become a member and get involved!
Be sure to visit the NWIR website to download the Mentoring Toolkit and check out the NWIR webinars on mentoring.
MEMBERSHIP
Mardee Billingsley, Tremco Inc.; NWIR Membership Committee
National Women in Roofing are now at 1,200 members!
It’s easy to renew your membership here
EDUCATION
Jennifer Keegan, GAF; NWIR Education Committee
Graphic Courtesy of Lane Law Firm
We’re tackling some big topics this year!
- Addressing the Labor Shortage – Recruiting Talent
- Addressing the Labor Shortage – Developing and Retaining the Team
- Equipping Leaders to Thrive in a Culturally Complex World
- Looking Ahead: The Next 10 Years for Roofing
Want to share your thoughts with us? Have questions you want to be sure we address?
Send a message to Jennifer Keegan.
COUNCILS
Cynthia Lang, SRS Distribution Inc. & NWIR Councils Committee
Did you know that we have 33 councils across the US? Find one near you on our website. If you don’t see one, why not start your own? If you are a new council just getting started and looking for ideas for meetings and activities, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the other councils across the country. Just visit the councils page on the website and you can find contact info for leadership, along with a contact form. Here’s what some of our councils have been up to lately:
NWIR Seattle Council
Brittany and the Seattle NWiR ladies reflect on their amazing experience at NWiR Day! Read about their adventures that included education, networking, and even the tattoo parlor!
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NWIR Arizona Council
NWIR members of the Arizona Chapter has seen a wonderful growth along with several of new faces at our meetings. It has been a pleasure building new connections and educational moments shared as well as IRE, NWiR day and several exciting new opportunities!
February 20th, 2019 we had a great hands on education training from Dave Metz from Tropical Roofing products at Elite Roofing Supply, 4600 W Glendale Ave, Glendale, AZ, where we learned what the differences of coatings are, the testing done to support the products, installation and different applications.
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NWIR Northern New Jersey Council
Mark your calendars for our next meeting, on Wednesday, March 27th at Brio Tuscan Grille! In addition to covering and new business, we will be welcoming Jean Kirch, Director of Development at the Center for Hope and Safety to learn about how we can support women in need in our community. For any members who were able to attend IRE this year, we connected with this organization through the Purple Purse Foundation.
We’d love to see you on March 27th so let us know if you’ll be there. As always, let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!
Please RSVP by March 22nd so we can secure the appropriate space.
Find out more information about the Center for Hope and Safety.
Event Details
Wednesday, March 27th 6-8PM
Location:
Brio Tuscan Grille
1400 Willowbrook Mall
*We have a room reserved
Submitted by: Chelsea Steinbock
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NWIR Colorado Council
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NWIR Tampa Council
Tampa Council members with Mike Fox, of ABC Supply Tampa, who graciously sponsored the hockey game fun.
February’s meeting was held at Jackson’s Bistro where the ladies met for food, fun and drinks. President Dawn Holsinger led the meeting filling everyone in about the IRE convention and the National Women in Roofing schedule of events for those days. The ladies then headed over to the Lightning Hockey game organized by Camille Austin of Elite Roofing sponsored by Mike Fox of ABC Supply Tampa.
Our Tampa ladies Diana and Hilary are on the NWIR National board. Here is a picture of Diana King in the meeting. Thank you, ladies for your time and expertise.
SPONSOR UPDATES
Tremco
WOW, WOW… that’s all I can say about the National Women in Roofing Day 2019. Tremco Roofing & Building Maintenance (TRBM) is proud to be a Founding and Diamond sponsor of NWIR. This organization has brought together women in the roofing industry that proves diversity is beneficial for our industry. Our organization has come to find that the networking provided by NWIR is so valuable and brings together people (women and men) from all facets of our industry as well as worldwide. TRBM encourages all women in our industry to reach out and get to know each other. It will better yourself, your organization and the future yet to come if we all work together to better in this every changing industry. And again, WOW!
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Tamko
Ethelmae Humphreys took the reins at TAMKO Building Products, Inc. in the early 1950s. A lot has changed since we introduced our first shingle in 1945, but one thing remains the same: our commitment to constantly moving the industry forward. Read the full article here.
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Johns Manville
Johns Manville was honored to be a Diamond sponsor for NWIR Day. As a founding sponsor of the association our commitment and dedication has not wavered.
We want to take this moment to highlight some of the women involved with NWIR who work for JM. We give a special thanks to Jennifer Ford-Smith who has been a thought leader and spearheaded the relationship between to NWIR and JM. Thanks to Cindy Ryan, one of first speakers at a NWIR event several years ago. Melissa Walker, Chair of the Mentoring Committee, committed time to develop the mentoring toolkit released this year. Carly Rocco, who attended NWIR Day and stays involved on the local council level. And thanks to Jennifer Stone, the current Executive Chair of NWIR. We would like to give a special mentions also to Tesha Kroll for speaking on behalf of JM at NWIR Day. Her honest comments to the group where heartfelt and spurred on many crucial conversations. Tesha has also volunteered her time as a one-on-one mentor.
This only highlights a few of the women at Johns Manville. We congratulate all of them for balancing the work they do in their day jobs and volunteering for the benefit of roofing as a whole. Thank you and keep up the good work ladies!
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The Roofing Alliance started the IRE convention week off with record attendance at the member dessert and cordials reception held Sunday evening at the Omni Nashville. This is an opportunity for members to mix and mingle with current members and to welcome new members.
The Roofing Alliance welcomed the top five finalist teams participating in the 5th annual Construction Management Student Competition to Nashville Sunday evening. The students and faculty had the opportunity to go on the roof of the project for this year’s competition – the Hilton Cool Springs Hotel, Franklin, Tenn. with representatives from Rackley Roofing and Crain Construction – both companies were involved in the project. The students gave their oral presentations on Tuesday morning, Feb. 12.
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SRS Distribution, Inc.
Our 2019 Diamond Sponsor, SRS Distribution Inc. consists of a family of industry-leading, independent roofing distributors with a common goal and purpose: to focus all of our efforts on serving the professional roofing contractor. SRS is a private company sponsored by Leonard Green & Partners and Berkshire Partners and led by a management team of industry veterans who understand the needs of the professional contractor.
The goal of SRS is to form the strongest national network of independent roofing distributors with the most talented team of people working together to deliver the industry’s best products and services. In addition to our commitment to customer focus, SRS strives to become the preferred employer in the industry with highly motivated and engaged employees operating in an entrepreneurial culture where the corporate office works for the field and not the reverse.
SAFETY
Roofing in the Rain
Michele Pratt, OSEA, Inc.
Roofing in the rain does not conjure up the same image of Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain. How do you keep your project on track when there is rain in the forecast and keep your crew safe? Severe weather conditions such as flash floods, thunderstorms with lightning and an all-out downpour may change activities to not working directly on the top of the roof. In 2014 the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 647 fatal falls from roofs. Many of these falls could have been prevented.
Here’s how:
- Secure your ladder. Ensure that your ladder is in good working order, not bent or having rungs missing or even stickers missing or painted over as that would be an OSHA violation. Make sure you have the correct size ladder for the height of the roof you are working on. If the roof is too high for a ladder, scaffolding or lift equipment must be used and in good working order.
- Wear a Harness. Fall protection harnesses are easily accessible. Ensure that you are wearing the correct size have an appropriate anchorage point and training on how to use the equipment.
- Safeguard yourself by wearing appropriate footwear. Good sturdy footwear with soft rubber soles and composite or steel toes.
- Use the good housekeeping standards of keeping nails, shingles and tools in the best places for safety and clear debris off the roof when replacing part or whole areas of a roof.
- Provide your working area with a 2-foot minimum perimeter around the ladder to allow tools to fall safely if dropped. In addition to keeping you and your crew safe from slips trips and falls you want to be aware of some factors for optimizing roof repair and replacement. There are some warranties that become null and void if installed during rain. Shingles and roofing materials are not always secure when fitted during periods of moisture. In addition, if moisture is trapped it could lead to mold which is another.
Are you speaking at an upcoming industry event? If so we want to know about it and share that information with our members. Email the information to Communications Committee Chair Anna Anderson.