Ashleigh Cromer
CEO of Be Strong
Ashleigh Cromer is the CEO of Be Strong. She left her position as the vice president of corporate social responsibility for a marketing agency to save and improve the lives of young people. During her career in entertainment and marketing—specializing in production, digital strategy and brand development—Cromer developed a deep understanding of the need for corporate and nonprofit partners to bring about transformational and sustainable change while increasing revenue through customer affinity.
Cromer has leveraged her business expertise to advance the interest of Be Strong to create lifelong improvement in the lives of young people across North America. During more than five years at Be Strong, Cromer has led the organization to a national grassroots footprint of over 4,500 student representatives serving annually; connected young people in crisis with trusted help through positive peer influence, relationships and technology; and developed a brand trusted by students, teachers, administrators, guardians, brands and customers while advancing a comprehensive program with demonstrated impact.
Rob Kornahrens
Founder and CEO of Advanced Roofing Inc.
Robert “Rob” Kornahrens got his start in roofing at Triple M Roofing in Long Island, N.Y., where he worked throughout high school and every summer during his college years. Kornahrens graduated in 1979 from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. Upon graduation, he took a position with Triple M Roofing, which led him to open a new branch in Atlanta. Kornahrens was successful in Atlanta, and the owner of Triple M Roofing moved him to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to take over an existing operation. In 1983, he borrowed $15,000 from his father and bought a pick-up truck to start his own business. He focused on customer service in the commercial reroofing business, and Advanced Roofing has grown steadily for the past 35 years. The company has been in the top 10 commercial roofing contractors in the U.S., No. 1 in Florida and currently has seven branches throughout Florida and employs about 500 people.
In 2002, Kornahrens became a founding member of RoofConnect, a national organization of roofing contractors that is independently owned with its own service regions. There are 120 branches nationally serving accounts such as Walmart, Home Depot and Dollar General. Kornahrens currently sits on the board of RoofConnect. In 2007, he created Advanced Green Technologies as a solar distributor for a thin film solar panel and started his solar contracting business at the same time. Advanced Green Technologies is the top commercial rooftop solar contractor in Florida.
Cheryl Ambrose, CHST, OHST (Moderator)
Vice president of enterprise risk management for NRCA
Cheryl Ambrose joined NRCA in 2021 as the director of enterprise risk management and was promoted to vice president of enterprise risk management in 2023. Before joining NRCA, Ambrose was the national health, safety and environmental administrator for the United Association, a labor union representing plumbers, pipefitters, sprinkler fitters, welders and service techs in the U.S. and Canada. Ambrose has almost 30 years of experience as a construction safety and health professional and has worked in leadership roles from project safety manager to corporate and national safety director. She holds a bachelor’s degree in occupational safety and health from Columbia Southern University and an associate degree in business management.
Ambrose holds the Construction Health and Safety Technician and Occupational Health and Safety Technician certifications through the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. She has been a member of the American Society of Safety Professionals for more than 20 years. She actively represents NRCA on numerous national committees, including the NIOSH NORA Construction Sector Council and the American National Standards Institute A10 Construction Standards Committee where she chairs and/or participates in numerous subgroups. Ambrose holds trainer certifications in construction safety and has developed and facilitated trainer courses about several topics, working with national organizations such as CPWR—The Center for Construction Research and Training, Department of Energy and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. She was selected in 2018 to serve on North America’s Building Trades Unions’ Opioid Task Force and was selected in 2020 to serve on OSHA’s Advisory Committee for Construction Safety and Health.