Dave Lawlor - There’s a New Sheriff in Town at the Roofing Alliance - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Dave Lawlor, the new president of NRCA's Roofing Alliance Foundation. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long-term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. This is Heidi Ellsworth, and I am here today with a dear friend from up north, so we are road tripping virtually up into Canada to spend some time with Dave Lawlor. Dave is with Rockwool, but today, we are really talking about The Roofing Alliance. Dave is the president of The Roofing Alliance this year, so I'm so honored to have you on the show, Dave. Welcome.

Dave Lawlor:
My pleasure, Heidi. Welcome to Canada virtually. It's my pleasure to be here.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love going up north, virtually or in real-time, someday. I haven't been there yet.

Dave Lawlor:
Oh, you got to come.

Heidi Ellsworth:
You just shared that you're actually getting out first time next week.

Dave Lawlor:
I am. For the first time since the pandemic started, I'll be attending the fall meetings for the Alliance. I may be the only one in there, as we were talking about earlier, that hasn't been in any meetings since the pandemic started. But yeah, Canada, the special situation, the border, that type of stuff has just been restrictive, and so here we are, but looking forward to it. It's going to be fantastic.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, I'm really excited. Next week is Roofing Alliance meetings in Chicago, so for all of you who are wondering what's going on, The Roofing Alliance, which is the foundation of the National Roofing Contractors Association, has yearly meetings actually a couple times a year where they do the business of the foundation to really do all the great things. Dave, let's start out with, first of all, I would like, I gave you just that high-level introduction. Why don't you introduce yourself? Let everybody know what you do, how long you've been involved with the Alliance, your business, all that good stuff.

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah. Yeah, sure. Thanks, Heidi. I'm current president of The Roofing Alliance Foundation, as you suggested earlier. Very small-town upbringing, Northern Ontario, north of Parry Sound, the home of Bobby Orr, that'll ring a bell to hockey fans out there. My father was a big woodsman and a military veteran and my mom was a housewife, so lots of fishing, lots of hunting as a youngster, that type of stuff, so that type of upbringing. Lots of forts as well, hockey, and fastpitch. I love music.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Love it.

Dave Lawlor:
I have a small guitar collection. I play a little bit, I'm not a great player, but I do love it. My wonderful wife Michelle and I have two great daughters, age 18 and 16. We live in Rockwood, Ontario, Canada, which is about an hour from downtown Toronto. I've been employed at Rockwool, the world's largest stone wool manufacturing company, for 23 years, so it's been a long career there. A fantastic company, very interesting products, so that also feels very fresh.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Oh, I love it. The more I've learned about Rockwool, we'll just have to do this again on that whole topic itself, because it's just the innovation and the history of your company is so impressive.

Dave Lawlor:
Very cool facets to the company. I do think we need to talk more about it, but yeah, I look forward to that, lots of different avenues we can go down with regard to what the company brings to the table, so that's great.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's awesome. But today, we're going to talk about The Roofing Alliance. I would love to hear your story. I love the stories. Charles Antis, we all work together on The Roofing Alliance, and he's always like, "Tell the story," so I would love for you to tell your story: How did you get involved with The Roofing Alliance, and really, the journey through to become president?

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah. Well, I'm not as great an orator as Charles, so I'm not going to suggest that, but yeah. Growing up small town, you have to get out if you want to do anything but very basic jobs, so traveled to Toronto, took architectural technology in school. When the school was complete, I wanted to stay in the city. Really, took the first job that came to me, and it was actually a laborer with a waterproofing contractor. Just to stay in the city, I worked at a bar as well at night.

Dave Lawlor:
But turns out the waterproofing contractor was installing mod bit membranes, right? We all know what modified bitumen membranes are. I got to know the reps and it wasn't long. It was through the end of that year that I was working at the membrane-manufacturing company. Like many, I fell into the roofing business, or backed into it, right? It's not something that I say, "Hey, I'm going to be in the roofing business. That's where I want to get to." But of course, Heidi, you know we want to change all that at the Alliance, that people choose this great business that is vibrant and with a lot of opportunity.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, so how did Rockwool and how did you get involved with The Roofing Alliance?

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, the Rockwool company joined the Alliance about eight years ago and I was the point person to participate in all the meetings, that type of thing. Obviously, I really enjoy the people. I just challenge anybody to find better people than you and I get to deal with on a regular basis. Fantastic. Bennett Judson, Bill Good, Rod Petrick, Josh Kelly, Kyle Thomas, Heidi Ellsworth is on the list, and the list goes on.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Dave Lawlor:
Really fantastic and getting my first glimpse into that NRCA foundation, it was great, and so that's when it started. I was asked to join the trustee board end of 2016, 2017. I think that it was just a great fit and I was able to bring something a little bit different, international company, international guy, that type of thing, to the table that I think was appreciated, so I became more involved in committees as we went along, continue to focus on organization, while on the Alliance stuff, as they say jokingly, my main hustle is still Rockwool, but really focusing on this Alliance thing. One day I remember Rod Petrick came to me and just chatting at an IRE and suggested, "Hey, maybe you should become the VP in this organization soon," and so the conversation went on and I started having conversation with Bennett and so on and so forth, whom I said to, "I'm not going to do it unless you're involved."

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right, right.

Dave Lawlor:
Because you need Bennett with you in those type of things, so that's the way it played out. The Alliance is an amazing organization. I'm preaching to the choir here with you, but really, lifting the entire roofing business to take its rightful place, in my opinion, in the overall construction business. That's really what we're trying to do. We're trying to take this Roofing Alliance, promote the advancement of roofing, and that's just straight from our mission statement, but through research, education, technology, and charitable programs. That's what it's all about. That's what we do. There are a lot of things that happen in those four pillars, but that's our goal of this organization. 25 years in, I'll say it's been a success, and I'm really happy to be here.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. What a great year for you to be president on the 25th anniversary and all the great things that The Roofing Alliance has done. I'm really curious, throughout the last eight years that you've been involved with the Alliance, everybody has a favorite part, right, a favorite thing that they're passionate about. Maybe it's more than one, but what are some of your most favorite initiatives that are going on in The Roofing Alliance?

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, I guess a couple right off the bat is the RMHC stuff. I'm in awe of what's what goes on there, the way that came together, the way that should be a case study. Charles Antis, Bill Good, Bennett Judson coming together to make that happen. To me, players coming to take care of those individual 165 roofs, to make sure that the people inside that building have one of those main necessities of life, shelter, it's absolutely phenomenal to me. I don't take credit for it, I can't, but as I look at that, every time I look at that, I'm in awe of that. It's fantastic.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know. For the listeners who, it's Ronald McDonald House is the initiative, because you said "RMHC," and that's its title, but for everyone out there, just so you know, the Alliance has adopted 165 roofs for Ronald McDonald Houses across the country and keep them safe and keep them maintained and sometimes re-roof the whole thing. I agree with you, it is one of the most amazing initiatives, and how it all came together and the passion of the Alliance behind that, Dave, is so impressive.

Dave Lawlor:
It's staggering to me, as I said. The contractors that give up their time, certainly, there are material manufacturers that give up material in order to make this happen, but here, we're talking about keeping families together to keep them safe together in a time of need. It's just awesome to me, so I love that. Like I said, I can't take credit for that.

Dave Lawlor:
But the other thing that I really love about what's going on, there's lots of stuff going on. I love the education part. I love the Clemson roofing curriculum and that we're at the early stages of that. They've developed a roofing curriculum for construction management programs that kids going through school, or young people, or whoever going through school can learn about roofing. Instead of just seeing a line on the top of a building in their architectural classes, they get to see really what goes into roofing and have a bonafide expert deliver lectures to them in these classrooms. Young people are going to come out into the industry, they're going to have a knowledge of roofing. They're going to know that's a great place that they can work and they can build a career, they can own a company, they can start a roofing, whatever. There's a lot there and we're right at the inception of that and to branch that out and to make that into every construction management program in North America would be a lofty goal.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Huge.

Dave Lawlor:
But why wouldn't we be able to make that happen? It's just great information. To me, if education programs aren't doing that, they're sort of missing the boat a little bit, right?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Dave Lawlor:
They're not filling in all the gaps. That's the way I like to think of that thing, but I think that there's awesome potential for, as the Alliance Foundation, try to lift our organization, that's one way to really lift it up.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right, and all those young minds in all the construction management programs out there who hardly hear anything about roofing, but now all of a sudden, because of this Clemson course, I mean, it's a full nine-hour course, they can really bring that and make that top of mind for these future construction management students.

Dave Lawlor:
Absolutely. We see around the room in any NRCA meeting or Alliance Foundation meeting, I mean, very successful people and contractors and building material manufacturer vice presidents and presidents, and so on and so forth. I mean, it's just a very good business to look at starting out into, so I really like that aspect of it. Those are my top two, Heidi. You know I've got a long list.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know.

Dave Lawlor:
But I don't want to talk here all day.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, I tell you what, I love it. Well, okay, one of the things I would also like to just note is that you are the first Canadian president of The Roofing Alliance. That is a huge honor. I mean, I'm kind of sad that it took till 2021, 2022 to have our first Canadian president, but I love that fact. What has that meant to you, to be able to represent the Canadian market, and really, bringing that more into the US?

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, it's something that I'm certainly honored by, and there's no question about that. You know we spell "honor" up here with a "U," right, Heidi?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Dave Lawlor:
There's a "U" in that. Humbled every step of the way of membership, just to be a member and then to be a part of the trustee program and then vice president and president. Personally, I'm simply humbled to try to change the trajectory just a little bit to the positive in my year term. I know that there's a lot of very impactful leaders that have taken this chair in the past, and more to come in the future. I'm just trying to do everything that I can with my own Canadian viewpoint to just change the trajectory, maybe just a little bit. We're not going to have a Ronald McDonald House connection here in my term, but there are things we're doing and that I'm proud of. I guess overall, there's an opportunity to broaden our horizons a little bit, get people in Canada thinking out this thing as a more North American thing. I work for a global insulation company.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's right.

Dave Lawlor:
There's global strategies in all of this stuff as well, so I try to bring that stuff to the party, let's say, but yeah, just humbled, honored to be a part of the organization. As I said, I'm in awe of the Ronald McDonald House initiatives, that type of thing, but you've been in all the rooms together with the people. It's a very high standard in this industry, in these rooms. That's the way I feel about that, just very proud, very honored, and humbled to be part of it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I love that. I love that. That's awesome. As you're talking about some of your initiatives, some of the things that you're focused on for your term as president, I want to point out, too, that every year The Roofing Alliance puts out a call for funding, so if companies are out there or research departments or universities or individuals or associations who want to apply for funding from the Alliance, that's actually coming up at the end of this year to get your funding request in. I've been through that process. I did it for National Women in Roofing and The Roofing Alliance was so amazing on supporting the National Women in Roofing during that time. What are some of the things you are hoping that maybe are already working on initiative-wise but that you're hoping to see continue to grow within the Alliance through some of these funding requests?

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, I think it's a great plug there that you put in for these funding requests. We need more. We need a lot of the best people and minds to be thinking in terms of roofing and looking for funding from the Alliance. It's there and I think it's a great plug, so thanks for that. I appreciate that.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, the Clemson education curriculum across all schools, that's something that I think we need to focus on. A lofty goal of five to 10 new Alliance members in my term is what Bennett and I talked about.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Nice.

Dave Lawlor:
We've got a couple, but we're not quite there yet. But I think we've seen a ramp-up based on putting that out there in the committees and so on and so forth to really focus in, see if we can get more people aboard the organization. I think that's a very important thing and I think that amplifying that kind of post-war stuff and pandemic and that type of thing and really pulling people in, amplifying the recession-proof nature of this business, and that it's been good to a lot of players, "Come and join us," type of thing to make it better. I don't know how that all plays out, but I love the idea of that. Obviously, we're making shelter, which is one of the main things that you need in life, so I think that it's an interesting thing, anyway.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, it is.

Dave Lawlor:
I want to count our first-ever female VP, Kelly Van Winkle of King of Texas Roofing.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Oh, that's right. Yes.

Dave Lawlor:
That's fantastic to see. Along with me being the first international president, Kelly comes in to be the first female VP, and then of course, the first woman president as well, so that's pretty cool.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Dave Lawlor:
There's a lot of things, there's kind of a lot in there, riffing on a lot of that stuff, but we're working on some various things. We're going to have a new section in the agenda at the meeting coming up here to request for people, and we have Jason Stanley of IB Roofing on the agenda to talk about some of the charitable things that he does.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Nice.

Dave Lawlor:
Just to broaden the conversation, not necessarily that the Alliance will support that, but broaden the conversation, let's get everybody thinking and let's get everybody moving in the same direction here. It starts with a conversation, so yeah, that's what I see. I think the education part of it is a huge thing, and getting that out there, that brings everything along with it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I love that. The Clemson is so important. We already talked about that, so important, but I also really want to talk, too, about what you said about membership. When we're looking at this, IB Roof is a brand-new member of The Roofing Alliance, and then you just said Jason's going to be presenting. I don't know all the companies out there, so let's take a shameless plug here and talk a little bit about membership in The Roofing Alliance and why it is so powerful for your company, companies and individuals, because I mean, we have individuals who are members, too. I say "we" just because I work with Alliance so much I feel such a part of it.

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, of course.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Why don't you talk about membership and why people should be looking at ...? I mean, it's the perfect time, end of the year, perfect time to be looking at this.

Dave Lawlor:
Yep, yep. Little bit of extra money laying around, yeah, I think to me, it's about getting everyone to pay attention what really goes on with the Alliance. When you can do that, people are busy doing their things, they're busy running their businesses, and so on, but directing them, having them focus on what happens at the Alliance, and then having them have a conversation with Bill Good, it's a pretty simple process from there just because there's so much reward in the overall lift in a community of players that we have at the Alliance. Everybody's lifting, everybody's working, everybody's a member. That's a big thing.

Dave Lawlor:
One thing we don't talk about very much, Heidi, and that is the networking capability in an organization like this. Imagine somebody who works in sales for an insulation company from Denmark being in a room with every major player in the roofing business, roofing contractors. It's fantastic with opportunity to get to. Certainly, there are antitrust rules that we follow and so on and so forth, but the networking opportunity is fantastic in the Alliance membership. If you want to be part of something, you want to really make a difference, you want to really give back, wow, what a powerful thing to lay your money down on and get in on. It's fantastic.

Dave Lawlor:
It's very easy to do. The rewards are amazing, in my opinion, but you have to come in. You have to come in and join the group. You can contact myself, Bennett, Kelly Van Winkle. It's roofingalliance.net is the website there. There's a section for membership. You can go in, find out who's a member, who paid what, this and that. You can also pretty much sign up on there, too. There's a letter of intent. It's got my name on the bottom of it. Yeah, so easy to do, easy to get behind. Great programs. Joining a group of people that is really lifting an organization and lifting an industry, it's fantastic.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, it really is. I mean, I think really to drive home that networking, I mean, first of all, I mean, I shouldn't even say that's first cause the first thing is that the money of membership goes towards all these initiatives. It goes towards the Ronald McDonald House, it goes towards the Clemson, it goes to help our own. I mean, there's a whole fund just to help people within the roofing industry who need help, and so there's so much.

Heidi Ellsworth:
But secondly, I have to tell you, when you walk into that room, The Roofing Alliance was the first group within roofing that brought everybody to the table, no matter who they were. It was manufacturers, distributors, technology, contractors, and everyone is all the same, and there's nothing like it, to be able to sit there and visit with CEOs of all the major companies out there and everyone else. I mean, it's across the board, so everyone should to join.

Dave Lawlor:
Everyone needs to join. Absolutely. Easy to join, yep, just contact us and get in on it. Yeah, yeah. You make good points, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth:
But Dave, it's not just membership, either. This is one of the things I work a lot with Bennett and on, and I know you are very strong about, but there are so many ways to be involved in The Roofing Alliance beyond membership for people who maybe aren't ready for that kind of commitment. The student competition coming up at the IRE, I mean, just attending that is so inspirational.

Dave Lawlor:
Yep. Yeah, that's a great point. We have contractors are taking care of singular Ronald McDonald houses and taking care of the roofs and they're not even Alliance members, so that happens. But if you're unsure or you want to find out more, there's the ability to come to any of our meetings. It's an open-door policy, so you can come right in on a one-meeting basis, you don't have to be a member, and really see what it's all about. That's probably the strongest selling tool we have is if somebody comes and they see what's going on in there, they're not going to not become a member, at least at some point.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, it's amazing. Well, Dave-

Dave Lawlor:
Yeah, and it's a membership for life.

Heidi Ellsworth:
... It's a membership for life. Oh, that's one of the things that you hear a lot, too, especially, well, I mean, there's so many family-owned businesses, but this is something that's passed on generation to generation, too. We see a lot of young people who are coming in who are moving up within their companies, whether as contractors or manufacturers, it doesn't matter. That part always inspires me, too.

Dave Lawlor:
We can't kick you out.

Heidi Ellsworth:
No. I love it.

Dave Lawlor:
Yes.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, I want to say thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing for the roofing industry. Thank you for what you've done for The Roofing Alliance. You are just so much fun to work with and we're so proud to have you here today on Roofers Coffee Shop for this podcast.

Dave Lawlor:
Heidi, thank you very much. It's my pleasure to be here and my pleasure to continue the work with the Alliance.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I love it, I love it. For everyone listening, please know that you can find The Roofing Alliance at roofingroofingalliance.net. Also, all the information is on Roofers Coffee Shop in The Roofing Alliance directory, plus tons of feel-good, awesome articles about all the things they've done for the industry, for the people out there, for the homes, keeping people safe through the foundation, so be sure to visit that. Also, be sure to visit and listen to all of our podcasts under our Read, Listen, Watch initiative on rooferscoffeeshop.com, or on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe and get notifications so you don't miss a single podcast. We will be talking to you again. From Roofing Road Trips, this is Heidi, and we'll see you next time. Thanks.

Speaker 1:
Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from therooferscoffeeshop.com.