Who is your roofing industry hero? Three NRCA members share their answers.
My roofing industry hero is Wayne Tobiasson. Wayne had all the technical answers for roofers in the northern climate. Unfortunately, he passed away this year at the age of 81. He was an inspiration to me and was always available to assist even though he retired more than two decades ago.
—Nick Sabino, Deer Park Roofing Inc. Cincinnati
I’m going to cheat and pick an entity as my roofing industry hero: NRCA’s Legal Resource Center. Established in 1979 as the National Roofing Legal Resource Center, it was the brainchild of Stephen Phillips (partner with Hendrick, Phillips, Salzman & Siegel, Atlanta) who presented the concept to the presiding NRCA leadership at the time—Melvin Kruger of L.E Schwartz & Son, Macon, Ga., and Fred Good, NRCA’s former executive director. These gentlemen helped further unify the association with their dedication to our industry, and I sincerely doubt any of us would run our companies the same today without their forethought and expertise.
—Lisa Sprick, Sprick Roofing Co. Inc., Corvallis, Ore.
This one is really easy for me—my dad. He had the courage to leave our hometown in West Virginia, where our family business started and was well-established, to start the Florida operation. He did that more than 40 years ago with no employees and no customers in a new town. It’s been successful ever since. The bigger reason is he instilled a work ethic for success with me and my brother and really emphasized how important it is to give back to the industry. He is a past president of the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association and served as an NRCA director years ahead of me.
—Brad Sutter, Sutter Roofing Co. of Florida, Sarasota
