Mike Wakerling, Joel Viera & Alec Ward - Celebrating Milestones: WSRCA's 50th Anniversary - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Joel Viera, Mike Wakerling and Alec Ward of Western States Roofing Contractors Association. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

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Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at Rooferscoffeeshop.com. You are listening to another Roofing Road Trip. I'm so excited today because I have the pleasure of talking about the Western States, Western Roofing Expo with the wonderful gentlemen from Western States Roofing Contractors Association right here with me. I'm so excited because we attend this show every year and we have been for so many years, and you all are celebrating your 50th anniversary, which is so amazing.

Megan Ellsworth: So Joel, I'll just have you start with introducing yourself and Western States and then Mike and Alec, we'll get to you guys.

Joel Viera: Thank you guys. My name is Joel Viera. I'm the executive director of the Western States Roofing Contractors Association. I started at Western States in 2001. I was the trade show coordinator in the Davis Memorial Foundation coordinator. And since then I've had just about every position here at the headquarters. I took over the executive director position in 2020, so this is my fourth year as executive director.

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome. That's amazing. Mike, who are you? What do you do?

Mike Wakerling: That's a good question. I'm Mike Wakerling. I'm the current president of the WSRCA. I've been on the board of directors for the WSRCA for 15 years.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow.

Mike Wakerling: And I have finally become president and that's pretty much it.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. Alec?

Alec Ward: I started in 2015. I'm currently a membership director and also director of a trade show. Yeah, started out just a small little envelope stuffing job as a temp way back then, and then slowly or actually more quickly just became membership director. And then once Joel took over as the executive director, then I started helping with the show more.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. So Joel or Mike or Alec, could you share the history and maybe the founding story of Western States?

Joel Viera: I could start and let these guys fill in the blanks. Western States was started in 1974. Really, the uniqueness of our western region and its weather climates was the primary function of Western States. We're one of the only regional associations with so much variance in our weather. The northwest is always raining, the central north is snowing and below zero. We've got moderate climate and we've got desert.

Joel Viera: So basically the founding fathers, I believe it was seven original gentlemen, created Western States as a function to basically address the issues that are more unique just to the west rather than what the other associations from a national or a local level we're dealing with.

Joel Viera: So I think that was the primary reason, and then a little bit tongue-in-cheek, I think they also wanted to get together and golf and network and have a little bit of fun as well. But yeah, I mean tackling the regional roofing industry by climate, I think was the main reason.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. So what are some of the most significant milestones Western States has achieved over the past 50 years? Mike, maybe you'll take that.

Mike Wakerling: Milestones that I've seen accomplished have been our technical bulletins, our technical aspect to the organization. I think, and I'm kind of biased, but I think we're number one in putting out technical bulletins, tackling issues head on that might not be comfortable for people in other industries or manufacturing and trying to protect our members from anything and everything out there that we discover.

Joel Viera: If I could add to that too, is every meeting we have, there's a controversial topic and we always say, "Don't forget, we're a contractor's association. We're here for the good of the contractor."

Joel Viera: I think back in the nineties we released our technical details, which at the time was cutting edge, those prior to manufacturers providing those to contractors at the time. And then I'd like to also say our TPO weathering farm, which we did five year, 10 year, 15 year studies on really, really shined a light on the technical work that the association does.

Megan Ellsworth: That's amazing. Alec, any milestones you've experienced in your time at Western States?

Alec Ward: I'd say the modernization of everything that we've done. We really expanded on just all the technologies with the Safety Act now. Our technical bulletins are housed online and it's more user engagement that way. Just overall modernization.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. I'd also love to know, since you're the trade show director now, how have you seen the Expo evolve since the first one?

Alec Ward: Well, from what I've seen, it's just continuously growing. When I first started almost 10 years ago now, we were on the same trade floor, but we only used a portion of it and now we're at capacity, we're trying to find space to get as many companies out there in front of the roofers. So just seeing that huge demand for the show, that's been the biggest thing.

Joel Viera: The educational side of the show has been massive growth. When I first started here, when we all first got our feet in the door, we used to do eight seminars during the Expo. Now we have 28 seminars at the Expo.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow.

Joel Viera: President Mike, his goal for the year was education, education, education, education. So not just at the Expo, but on the membership side of things as well. Webinars and we're now doing road shows or educating folks in our other states. For a bit there we probably got a little stale we were a little too California centric. Now we're out on the move and we're doing lots of education all over our region to help provide some of our resources. And we also work hand in hand with state and local associations, smaller associations to help grow both of our membership. So partnering with them has been a nice change of pace as well.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. Yeah. Wow. Eight to 28, that's a big jump.

Megan Ellsworth: Mike, so being the president, how have you seen the Expo specifically grow, like Joel said, with all the seminars and Alex said, with all the people attending? So how have you seen it grown?

Mike Wakerling: My first show I attended back in 1978, I believe and that's when they had the Expo at the Disneyland Hotel. And you could walk through it in about two or three hours. There was probably 50 or 60 vendors. Now it's at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. I don't know how many vendors we have, 200. Biggest shows on the West Coast, one of the most well-attended. And it just grows and grows every year, like the seminars from eight to 28 and we could probably have 35 or 40. We turn down a lot because we just don't have the space to have more seminars.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow, that's amazing.

Megan Ellsworth: So I know it's been held in Vegas for a long time now. I wish I could have seen it in the Disneyland Hotel. That'd be so fun. But do you all ever think about moving it around or is Vegas kind of its home now.

Joel Viera: We used to have a rotating show around the entire region. We've done Seattle and San Diego and Phoenix, but just the attendance doesn't lie. Even in my time here at Western States, we've had it in Reno three times and attendance doesn't lie. People love to come to Vegas. Not going to lie, as someone who's been working for Western States for 23 years, I've been to Las Vegas way too many times. [inaudible 00:08:58] for those of us that come there for work because it's not necessarily pleasurable. So it's all work.

Joel Viera: But our attendance is just phenomenal every time we go to Vegas. So the few times we have experimented with going outside of Las Vegas, it really made a negative impact on our attendance. We're the largest regional roofing association. The only show that's bigger than ours is the international show. So if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's kind of our motto when it comes to our show in Las Vegas.

Megan Ellsworth: Agreed, agreed.

Megan Ellsworth: So what are some of your most memorable moments or standout events from past Expos that you've experienced? Maybe Alec, you can start.

Alec Ward: Let's see. I think seeing my first Roofing Games before, I mean, my starting was a few months before the show, I didn't even know anything about roofing at all. And then I hear about, it doesn't sound interesting at all, bunch of guys roofing. I actually saw it and I saw how much the crowd was into it and just the pace of all the competitors just kind of nails and getting those shingles on, that was a pretty cool sight to see. I enjoyed that.

Alec Ward: And then just more personally, it was just seeing the attendance rate just going up and up. I think it's almost doubled from when I started to seeing where it is now, we're seeing this huge pace. That's always something I remember.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Mike, memorable moments from past expos?

Mike Wakerling: I'd have to agree with Alec on the Roofing Games. Being a contractor and an installer before, it was really fun to watch guys race because we used to do that when we were working.

Mike Wakerling: And the other memorable moment, I don't know if this is proper or not, but it was when the previous executive director, Tom Pappas fell off the stage. That was pretty funny.

Joel Viera: With George Madsen. Yeah.

Mike Wakerling: George Madsen, one of the board members, they just stepped backwards and disappeared.

Joel Viera: It is kind of funny because Alec and I had a little powwow before we got on where we talked about some memorable moments and we had a little laugh. Tom came up as potentially one of ours.

Joel Viera: But just if I could shine a little light on the purpose of the Roofing Games. The reason we decided to do the Roofing Games was not just our show, but it seems like every show out there, the last day is a little bit slow. And we were trying to do something to spice it up and really reward those that stayed to the end and increase our attendance on our second day of the show. So we came up with the idea to do the Roofing Games, which was sort of like an Olympics type of event.

Joel Viera: So we've had a great partner. Malarkey has always been so helpful in not only putting together everything but supporting us and just making it a really fun event. So we try to end the show with a bang and keep those that stay entertained. A lot of shows out there are just a show and it's just the trade show floor. And we really tried not only with that, but we have the Roofers Feud, which is like a game show and Alec created this. You've got a Western States member pin, you're wearing a member pin that you're allowed to participate in all these raffles on the trade show floor.

Joel Viera: So we really do try to make it fun and engaging to our audience. So that was the purpose of it, and I think we've been doing it for at least 10 years now and it does help draw. Day one is definitely better than day two, but day two is really well attended as well and it's a good day to actually do business for our vendors. It's sometimes quality over quantity on day two and so that's a feather in our hat that we're really proud of. A lot of other associations are doing things similar to the Roofing Games and we didn't necessarily create it, but we were the first to do it on a trade show floor and it's been a lot of fun since then. So it's just something that we'll continue to do as our audience continues to gather at the back of the trade show floor and watch it.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, it's always so fun to watch the Roofing Games and cheer them on. And sometimes I've seen bets getting placed. So fun. It's always so fun. I love that you all started that. And it's really cool to talk to the winners too and see how fast they can do it and it's actually amazing.

Megan Ellsworth: So how would you say Western States has contributed to the professional development and success of the roofing contractors in the Western region?

Alec Ward: Definitely a Mike question.

Joel Viera: Yeah, I like that for Mike.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, Mike?

Mike Wakerling: Just personally and seeing what's happened over the years, the WSRCA is a contractors association and I don't think we lose sight of that. To me, it's like a big family. Everybody's family and you take care of family. And we try and take care of our members. We have legal with Trent Cotney, we have safety with Steve Zazadil. We have bulletins that tackle hard issues, ruffle some feathers sometimes, but we always do it with the contractor in mind and how we can take care of the contractor because they're our association and they're the people that we want to help and educate and make a successful as possible.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, well said.

Joel Viera: Well said. Well said. Just to help Mike out with some other stuff is just at one point we didn't really have much going on in safety or legal, and the legal we did have was very California centric, like I said earlier. And now our members are guaranteed eight technical bulletins every year. We do a weekly. Got one this morning, you get a safety toolbox topic that you can go over with your team to keep you safe, to keep your business in good standing. We've got a safety app that we offer our members for free.

Joel Viera: It's never a money grab for Western States. Our dues are very affordable, especially compared to other associations of our size. And we're just here to help. That's really our goal. And our committee level, we continually say that and remind each other, let's just help each other out. It's not about making money or charging more or hey, we just produced this, let's charge members this. No, it's part of the dues. And we're really proud of that. Having Trent on board, not only as our general counselor, but as the legal advisor for the association, keeping our members in good standing and bulletins with that as well.

Joel Viera: We're at the point now where a few times a week, we're sending something out via email where it used to probably be maybe once a month, 10, 15 years ago. So we really take the educational side serious. And like I mentioned earlier, one of Mike's goals was getting our road shows out there. And so we've done six or seven different touches out to different areas in our region where we're bringing out our speakers or one of us goes out to speak or we're just supporting our local affiliates by being at a golf hole, at a golf tournament and providing a beer for their members and talking about what we're doing to help our contractors. So we're always out there. It's not about making money for us, it's about helping contractors. And I think that's a very noble service that we provide.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, completely agree. And you've been doing it for 50 years, which is huge. And always being a contractor first association. How are you celebrating that? I know that there might be some special events happening. Can you give us a little bit of the download for that? What's going on?

Mike Wakerling: Okay, Joel.

Joel Viera: Well, Saturday night we typically have a reception that's for all of our volunteers that have been helping over the years where we thank them for all their hard work. Well, this year we're pivoting to a former president's gala. It is a private event, but we're basically celebrating 50 years of leadership. Those who built the foundation of what Western States is built on, everyone's got a hand in that. And so all of our former presidents have been invited to come on out. We're going to have a dinner and a fun gala event to celebrate our former presidents for creating the culture and the foundation of what we're doing now.

Joel Viera: And then for those that don't get invited to that, at the annual lunch we're going to have all of our presidents get up as well and just thank them for all the hard work they've done. So I think just about every one of them that's still living is coming. I've only heard of one that's not.

Joel Viera: So it's going to be a very, very fun event. And it's basically just a big thank you to them for everything that they've done. It's not easy to run your business and donate your time to an association, but it's the selfishlessness that they have done over the years to help fellow contractors and help grow the industry, we just can't thank them enough. So we're going to have all out in Vegas this year and take care of their rooms and give them a few little gifts that we don't want to let the cat out of the bag on yet, but it'll be a really fun event for everybody.

Alec Ward: Even the very, very first President, Wayne Mollis back in 1974, he's going to be attending as well, 50 years ago.

Megan Ellsworth: No way.

Alec Ward: [inaudible 00:18:50], so that's great.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. That is wild. Amazing.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay, so are there any other special events happening to celebrate the 50th anniversary? I know the Davis Memorial Auction is happening on Sunday night, I believe. What other events should people expect?

Joel Viera: Everything is themed for the 50th this year. So if you're interested in helping the Davis Memorial Foundation, which is a scholarship foundation for Western States, who's given out, closing in on a million dollars in scholarships, they have a golf tournament on Sunday morning, a sporting-based tournament on Sunday morning. And I have to say thank you to Beacon for sponsoring those events. They've been a long-time sponsor of those events.

Joel Viera: And it's a great day to go out and golf and network and have a little bit of fun, all in the same time, probably just raise funds for our scholarship foundation. Each year we give out 10 scholarships, 5,000 apiece. So we give out $50,000 in scholarships each year. For the first time ever, we're also giving out two grants for SkillsUSA at 2,500 each. So all in all, we $55,000 in scholarships and grants.

Joel Viera: And then the night of Sunday night, which everyone should plan to attend, it's a really, really fun event. We have Greg Bloom, Bill Bailey and Chuck Chapman, all roofing industry people that act as auctioneers for our auction. We'll have about 15 live items that we do on stage. And then we've got an app with probably another 50 or so items. And again, all this goes to a great cause. That's how we fund our scholarships.

Joel Viera: And right before the auction, we invite all the scholarship winners to come out, so we can give them a round of applause. It's a tough time of the year, school's just starting, but I believe we've got five or six that are coming this year. And it's just a nice event. JF sponsors the auction every single year.

Joel Viera: And if anyone's interested in sponsoring their own scholarship, we offer that as well. It's $5,000 and we put your logo on the scholarship and have you come up and present it. So that's a great day. We call it Sunday Funday. It's a large networking day, but just cannot forget that the purpose of the day is to fund our scholarship foundation where, like I said, $55,000 in scholarships and grants and we're closing in on a million dollars in donating and awarding those to those folks in need and that deserve the recognition and the financial help.

Joel Viera: So yeah, I mean, it's a great day. It's a lot of fun. And anything anyone could do, whether it's just coming out and participating or donating an item or bidding on an item, all those things really, really, really help. And we can't say enough for all the folks that help with that.

Alec Ward: And this year's theme, black and gold. Not doing cowboy attire this year, unfortunately.

Megan Ellsworth: Dang it.

Alec Ward: [inaudible 00:21:55].

Megan Ellsworth: I do love the black and gold, but I have to say I love the Western theme every year.

Alec Ward: Nice to do that too, just wear your black and gold western gear.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, Western wear, Black and Gold Edition. Amazing. I am so excited. Sunday is the best day. It is a fun day. So I look forward to that auction every year. It's very fun.

Megan Ellsworth: Kind of round out the episode, can you each share a personal anecdote or experience that just highlights the impact of Western States that it's had on your career or maybe the industry at large? Mike, do you want to start?

Mike Wakerling: Sure. I remember my first board meeting was in the Gorge in Washington, Oregon. And I went up there and I was kind of scared, I didn't know anybody and immediately embraced. People were friendly, they were just open and engaging. Everything was very friendly. But what most made an impact on me was when we went to the meetings, it was all business and it was how can we help the contractor? And it was kind of like The Wizard of Oz, you got to see behind the curtain and see all the work that goes into the technical bulletins and the discussions and blood, sweat and tears. I mean, it's all business when we're in the meetings because if we can make our contractors more successful, then the association is more successful and so is the industry. We just want to make the industry better.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Alec?

Alec Ward: For me, definitely the most life-changing job I've ever had. Before I started, I was out of work. I remember the moment I got the call just out in the backyard. And my wife comes out outside with my cell phone saying, "Hey, there's this unknown number here, do you want to take it?"

Alec Ward: "No, no."

Alec Ward: "Are you sure?"

Alec Ward: "Fine. All right."

Alec Ward: Pick it up, and it's that temp agency asking if I want to do some envelope stuffing job in Morgan Hill, which at the time I thought, that's too far, I'm not going to go up there. I almost said no. I said, "Why not? I got to find something to do."

Alec Ward: So those little decisions right there, as a small beginning and where I've come today, it just completely changed my life. I didn't know at the time, but when I got that call, my wife was pregnant. We didn't know at the time. And so it was the perfect timing for everything, that I got hired when I did. And just the team I got here is awesome. And the board is great. All the members we work with, the associate advisors and contractors and everyone. It's a great industry to be in. A lot of awesome people. I'm super grateful.

Megan Ellsworth: Agreed. Wow, that's so heartwarming. I love it. Joel, round it out, man.

Joel Viera: Yeah, Mike said the word earlier and it continues to hit home with me. And that's the word, family. We've developed very much a family feel here in the office, with our board, with our other volunteers. And myself, Chris and Sophia have been here over 20 years each and Alec has been here closing in on 10 and Samantha five. And we appreciate working with each other, we appreciate working with the board. There's a lot of respect that's paid between ourselves and the board. We all row in the same direction. That's the best way to say it. And we're all in it for the same reasons. And as you know, if everyone rows the same direction, it becomes easy. And we produce and we have a lot of pride in what we produce.

Joel Viera: So for me, I don't have a single moment at all that was that moment. But just having the team that works together to make our Expo great for our exhibitors, makes our Expo great for our attendees, makes our membership worthwhile for our contractor members, makes volunteering your time and coming to a board meeting worthwhile for our board members.

Joel Viera: A lot of people wake up in the morning and dread going to work, and I could honestly say I don't feel anyone on our team feels that way. We enjoy each other, we enjoy the job we do. We enjoy who we work for and who we work with. And that's a big deal for me. It's like waking up and being excited to go to work is so much better than the opposite, which I think every one of us have had that job or that manager or that supervisor that makes your life miserable and you don't want to go to work. And I think we have created a culture not only within the office, but within the association and within the volunteer ranks that makes it really enjoyable for everybody. So that for me is my anecdote, is just working together for the betterment of many is just very worthwhile.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Megan Ellsworth: Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for your time in chatting with me today. I'm so excited for the Western Roofing Expo, this September 29th to October 1st in Las Vegas at the Paris Hotel. You can all go to Rooferscoffeeshop.com, to the Western States directory, the WSRCA directory and find information on how to get a hotel room, where to register, all that good stuff, sign up for all the amazing events that are happening. And I can't wait to see you all in Vegas.

Mike Wakerling: See you in Vegas.

Joel Viera: Likewise.

Megan Ellsworth: See you then. All right, everyone, be well. You've been listening to Roofing Road trips from Rooferscoffeeshop.com. Make sure to register for the Western Roofing Expo, and we will see you there. Thanks for listening.

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