Coffee Conversations - Celebrating Female Veterans in Roofing

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Why roofing contractors should focus on recruiting more veterans and women into their companies. 

In Season 3, Episode 5 of Coffee Conversations, sponsored by ABC Supply, RoofersCoffeeShop® celebrates Veterans Day by having several impressive women share their experience as veterans in the roofing industry. Angelica Bragger, Elizabeth Evans and Mandy McIntyre sit down with Heidi J. Ellsworth to discuss the host of skills veterans can bring to any roofing company – an especially important topic given the labor shortage. In this Coffee Conversations you will also learn about special programs in the roofing industry designed to support veterans, like ABC Supply’s Homes for Our Troops (HFOT).  

Mandy comes from a military family and has been the operations officer for 1st Choice Roofing for eight years. She also has been working with National Women in Roofing (NWiR) as part of their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee and is passionate about recruiting as many underrepresented or, as Mandy put it, “under considered” people into the industry.  

“This month with Veterans Day, the committee was like, ‘Women veterans in roofing, where are they? How do we attract them? How do we know who they are?’ So, I put the Facebook post out there, and Elizabeth and Angelica answered,” said Mandy. “It's such an honor to have them here today and to be involved with spreading that word of acknowledging female veterans, especially in the roofing industry.” 

After being recruited to play tennis at West Point, Elizabeth found her passion for construction while studying civil engineering and later went on to be a colonel in the U.S. Army. For over 21 years, Elizabeth has been building her military career in the National Guard and now commands Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Stark, Florida.   

"About four and a half years ago, Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys. I led the recovery efforts for that with the National Guard and just to see the devastation in the Keys, it really inspired me to say, ‘Hey, instead of working for other construction companies, why not start something of my own where I can employ veterans and serve people in their time of need?’” said Elizabeth. “And that's where E2 Roofing and Elizabeth Evans Custom Homes came to be. [Now] about 50% of my employees are veterans.” 

Angelica served in Iraq from 2017-2018 and has been in the Army National Guard for 15 years. While in the army, she’s worked in logistics, tracking and aviation. Angelica now works as a senior estimator at Young Construction in Mason City, Iowa. 

"There is just not enough to be said as far as what a soldier can bring to the roofing industry,” said Angelica. “It's just kind of instilled with us to have that teamwork and also have that leadership skills as well.” 

Read, Listen or Watch the entire Coffee Conversations to learn from this inspiring panel of guests and how to attract more veterans into your business.