Roofing Road Trip with Heidi Welcomes Brian, Ted and Scott from IIBEC- PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an interview with Brian Pallasch, Scott Hinesley, and Ted Sheridan with IIBEC. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast here.

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello, and welcome to another edition of Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Today, I am so excited to introduce and welcome the leadership of IIBEC. Many of you know this as RCI, Roof Consultants Institute, but they have rebranded, they are taking a lead, as always, in the industry, and today we're so lucky to have Scott Hinesley, the president of IIBEC, Ted Sheridan, the first vice president at IIBEC, and Brian Pallasch, who is the new IIBEC CEO. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.

Ted Sheridan: Hi, Heidi.

Scott Hinesley: Thank you, Heidi.

Brian Pallasch: Thanks for having us.

Heidi Ellsworth: Ah, it's great. Well, I would love to just start, real quick, with some brief introductions. Maybe Scott, you could start out, and maybe just tell us a little bit about yourself, and what you're doing in the roofing industry?

Scott Hinesley: Certainly, thank you. Again, my name's Scott Hinesley, and I'm president of an engineering firm in Eastern United States, called REI Engineers. Interestingly, REI Engineers started out in 1997, as Roof Engineering, Incorporated. We went through a rebranding back in, probably, 2006, 2007, to change the name of the firm to REI, just to concentrate on us not simply specializing in roofing. I started with the firm in 1998. Got my degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State University. And for several years before joining REI, I worked with another engineering firm that provided multiple different aspects of engineering. I got started in the construction services side, where I was testing soil, concrete, working on the back of a drill rig doing soil borings. But, the company that I worked for also had a roof consulting division. And, in the process of my time at that other company, I decided that I wanted to branch out, and learn more aspects of the construction industry, and roofing was standing right there. I got started doing a lot of field work, takeoffs, infrared surveys, nuclear surveys, for the roofing division. Then, shortly after that, the gentleman who ran that company started Roof Engineering, Incorporated. So, I joined him in '98, like I said, and been at the same place since then. I became president of REI in 2010, I believe. So, that's been my experience in the roofing industry, been loosely involved with it since 1995. To be honest, I don't think I would change anything. I wouldn't change any of the trajectory, any of the lessons I've learned, and it's been a fantastic experience for me.

Heidi Ellsworth: You know, I love that. I love that you came from drilling, too, because core samples, there's a little bit of a connection there. The fact, I started in '94 in roofing, so I can relate to exactly where you've been, Scott. Thank you so much. Ted, a little bit of history about you?

Ted Sheridan: Oh yeah. I've been doing roof consulting, and building enclosure consulting for just about 30 years, now, pretty much right out of university. I'm an engineer, as Scott is, and joined a company similar to Scott's. Really, they gave me the roofing because nobody else wanted to do it, so I started to learn a little bit more about it. Eventually, started my own business, and now I'm president of a company called Fishburn Sheridan & Associates in Ottawa, Canada. We do a lot of roofing, but a lot of other building enclosure engineering as well.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is excellent. Thank you from Canada. Roofer's Coffee Shop, we have Canada on the site, and we're very happy to have you here today. And, Brian, tell us a little bit about you?

Brian Pallasch: Heidi, thanks. As I like to start my presentations recently, this is day 336 working for IIBEC, and it's been an interesting, and fulfilling 336 days, so closing in on one year. Prior to my time with IIBEC, and the good news is I'll probably never call it RCI because I didn't work for RCI, I've only worked for IIBEC, I spent 20 years working for the American Society of Civil Engineers, and I ran their Washington, DC office, and did all their public policy for them, and engaged on a couple of well known projects, like the Report Card for America's Infrastructure. I have some background in public policy activities. Prior to that, I actually worked for the American Subcontractors Association, so in fact, I'm about close to 25 years working in the construction, engineering world, so I have a little bit of background, although never having worked for a roofing concern, if you will. I've worked a lot with engineers and architects over the years, so that is a big composition of IIBEC's membership. It's been an easy transition because I do, sometimes, speak engineer.

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it. You know, you've got to be careful, too, Brian. Once you get into roofing, you never leave.

Brian Pallasch: That's fine.

Heidi Ellsworth: I'm not sure if anybody's told you that. Well Scott, I would really love to start with maybe giving everyone some insights. You and the executive team have done a lot the last couple years, with the rebranding, with the new CEO. Can you just get everybody in the roofing industry caught up on exactly what's happening with IIBEC?

Scott Hinesley: Yeah, sure. Thanks. Many may or may not know, but we have, in the last several years, we've gone through two different CEO searches. We found one a couple years ago, but during the first process, the first interview process, we interviewed, maybe, five or six different individuals, all extremely qualified. But, what we found out from each one of them was that they had done some research, and almost to a person they said, "RCI has a little bit of an image problem, in that back in 2006, I believe it was, they changed the legal name of the organization from the Roof Consultants Institute, to RCI Inc." The intent for that move to highlight the fact that we don't just practice in the roofing realm. Now, can't hide the fact that the majority of our members practice the majority of their time in roofing. But, what happened, the outside industry was still calling us the Roof Consultants Institute, instead of calling us RCI, so there was a little bit of an image problem. In the process of bringing on the executive VP the first go round, we queried our members and determined that, yeah a name change may be in order. After a massive amount of research, we landed on IIBEC, the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants. It's taken a little bit of time for that to stick, but it's getting there. We certainly are pleased with where we're going with that. Now, Brian's point earlier, he does come in with a little bit of an advantage, simply because he didn't know RCI, so Brian's never going to call it RCI. That's a great asset for the guy running the organization to have. So, we're extremely pleased to have Brian at the helm, and he's assembled a magnificent team. There's been a lot of new additions, there's also been some veterans that have stayed on board. They're doing a fantastic job, so we're extremely pleased to have them here with us.

Heidi Ellsworth: You know, I have to agree, Scott. The team, Brian, that you have over there is pretty phenomenal. I've known Kris Ammerman for many, many years, and [Brittain Fore 00:09:06], she's just top notch. We've been working with Chris Barnes, and he's just done a great job on working with us on what we're going to talk about next, the trade show. You guys have really put together an amazing team.

Brian Pallasch: Well, I'm-

Scott Hinesley: I apologize, Brian, I'm going to interrupt you for just a second, if you don't mind.

Heidi Ellsworth: It's all right.

Scott Hinesley: But, I do want to add something.

Brian Pallasch: [inaudible 00:09:33]

Scott Hinesley: I may be the current president of the organization, but I have always thought that we maybe had a little bit of an image problem, in identifying those who were truly running the organization, those who were truly doing the heavy lifting for all of the work that gets done. I've been on this board for, what, six years? I've got to say, this is an extremely demanding position. It requires a lot of your time, and a lot of your concentration, and a lot of effort. But, the true heavy lifting is done by the staff of the association, the leadership of the association, Brian and his team. Historically, every month when we publish our magazine, Interface, there's always a piece at the beginning of it from the current president, and that president has sort of been identified as the face of the organization for that year. Then, the next year there's a whole new president. So, in my opinion, there's a little bit of an odd message being sent, basically insinuating that the president's in charge, and that's not necessarily the case. Even though the board and the executive committee is the steering committee to direct the executive director as to what they should be doing, ultimately it's the leader, it is the CEO and his team, that should be taking credit for what's getting done because they're really the backbone of the team.

Heidi Ellsworth: I'm involved in a couple of associations myself, and I think that is so true, association management is so important, and they're part of a team. When you all work as a team, that's really what makes a big difference. I would like to take those thoughts, Scott, that you just shared, and bring Brian on. Brian, I loved your introduction, and I think you have a big job. But, you guys have been doing an amazing job on kicking off what I see as the first virtual conference in the roofing industry. Nobody else has done it yet, you guys are going to be the first. I think that's so progressive and awesome. Can you just share with us, Brian, what's all happening with this?

Brian Pallasch: Sure. I'll just go back to your previous comment and question, and I would just say that, really, what it is, is a partnership. I think I would say this about IIBEC and its executive committee, they have a great executive committee, they are willing to listen to new ideas, they are willing to listen to the staff. Because of that, because of the partnership that we've created, we've been able to do things like, ... and I'll segue now nicely into this discussion of the virtual trade show. I think you've probably done a number of podcasts, and we're probably a little bit of COVID fatigue, or pandemic fatigue at this point, but for us, it really hit IIBEC at an inopportune time, if you will, as we were literally ... Not just figuratively, but literally packing our bags, getting ready to go to Houston for our annual convention and trade show. Having to be very nimble, and quick, and have to make some difficult decisions. It was a hard decision to send an email to the membership and tell them that we were going to postpone. Obviously, we had to do that for public health reasons, and safety reasons. Then, we spent a lot of time thinking about how we should proceed. Really, what came about is that we felt that, number one, our members needed this virtual education, or education if you will, as quickly as they could. Waiting until November, which was the next round of dates we could have possibly done something, seemed a little bit too far in the future. So, we pivoted using some software tools, and we're going to host a virtual not only education piece of this, but also a virtual trade show. So I think it's going to be a pretty immersive environment, where the attendee will log in to this portal, and there will be a great hall that you walk into, you're not exactly walking, obviously, where you can pick different things that you'd like to do. We're going to have some live education, we're going to have some, what I would call, pre-recorded education. But, one of the benefits of that pre-recorded education is that the participants, the panelists, or the speaker for those session, they're going to be live. So, the person giving the presentation that you'll see speaking, and their slides, they'll also be able to real time, live answer your questions. So, it's a little bit more interactive than sitting in a room, in a lecture hall, if you will, in your normal type activity. You can actually interrupt the speaker sort of, if you will, real time, because you'll be able to ask them questions during the middle of their presentation, and it'll just keep going. We are really excited that we're going to be able to offer all of the educational courses that we were going to offer in Houston, those are all going to be available. We will have our keynote speaker, A.B. Stoddard, who's a political commentator, she works for an organization called RealClearPolitics, so she does polling and other work in that space, and spend a lot of time on TV talking about what's going on in US politics. Obviously, this will be a pretty interesting time to talk about that. We're going to be facing an election that will be unprecedented, in the fact that we may not have in-person campaigning for the first time, so that's an interesting thing. Then, there's the virtual trade show, which I think is going to be something folks are going to have to get used to, if you will. Or, learn maybe is the better way to put it. Our exhibitors are going to be available for certain times during those days that we have the meeting going on, and that's June 12 to 14. I should get those dates out there, probably say them five more times. In addition to that, not only are they going to be available live during those exhibit hours during the trade show, they're going to be available off hours as well. You can go into that virtual trade show at 10 o'clock at night, and go pose your question to an exhibitor. Then, it will send them an email, and they'll be able to answer that, or go live with you at another time, if you will. In addition to that, because of the way the software works, we're going to be able to keep the if you will, virtual meeting, open for an entire month after. This education and trade show is going to be available through July 15th, which means for those folks who don't want to spend a big chunk of time in one day, engaging in the virtual meeting, they can get those educational offerings over the 30 days that the trade show and educational components are going to open. Another way to look at this is, in a normal IIBEC meeting, you can't possibly go to all the sessions. There's too many of them, some of them conflict. Now, all 24 of those sessions, you're going to be able to participate in, at your own leisure, between June 12th and July 15th. That's a benefit of this virtual approach. It also, at this point in time, is going to keep people safe, and allow them to access the education as they need.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is so cool. I think this is going to be great. You know, I like this kind of stuff, I'm very involved with technology, and as you can guess, totally believe in digital. How do you see, Brian ... I know when I was talking to Chris, he felt like this would really be positive, but it is over a weekend. How do you see that working with the show?

Brian Pallasch: Well, we had a lot of back and forth on how to do this. This is one of those ones where we were trying to mirror the way the IIBEC show was. Our annual meeting and annual convention is always over a weekend, it starts on a Friday, ends up on a Monday. This time, we shifted the days slightly by a day, because usually the Friday's a move in day, and a get acquainted day, golf tournament, et cetera. We're not going to do a virtual golf tournament, although we did discuss whether that could happen. We decided to not do that. Look, I think people are going to available. Again, if you don't want to spend your Saturday engaging in the education, you can do it at your leisure for those remaining 30 or so days left, after the show closes. It was a balancing act, for all of this. Now, I will say, we are going to have live pieces each day, so on the Friday you're going to get A.B. Stoddard live, that will not be something that we can tape. On Saturday, I believe there will be one live education piece that we're going to be doing, and that is also not going to be able to be taped because of the nature of the education. I don't remember that session that is, so I apologize, but it'll be part of the promotional materials. Then, the third thing is, we're working on a third live session for the Sunday, which again, it'll give people a little bit more reason to be there live those days.

Heidi Ellsworth: You know what? What I really loved when I heard about this, too, was the fact that, for many of us in the roofing industry, what we're hearing, we're busy. There's still, and there's getting even more backlogs now as people are at home, and things are happening. I think a lot of the members, a lot of the industry, the fact that they can do some of this over the weekend, and not take out of their work week, I think it has a real bonus. We'll just see, this is all new, first time. I do know that your membership meeting, I attended it, I thought it was so well done, was highly attended. So Ted, maybe you can talk, just a little bit, about that membership meeting, now, going into the virtual? And what you, as an association, see on this move to digital? Is it going to last, is it going to go beyond the COVID?

Ted Sheridan: Well, that's a really good point, Heidi. I think one of the things that we identified right away, and this was again, Brian and his staff, once we learned that the convention was going to have to be postponed, we started to think forward on what elements of the convention had to go forward regardless. We really didn't know what form it would take, at that point. The first thing that we realized was that the meeting of the members had to happen, because that meeting, there are some legal requirements in the IIBEC bylaws for electing a new slate of directors, and that sort of thing, so that had to happen. Brian and his staff figured that out really quickly, and jumped on it, and started to plan it as a virtual meeting. We really didn't know what to expect for attendance. Usually that meeting is held at the convention, and we lure people in there with free sandwiches, and we'll get maybe 100, 150 people. We have to get 10% of the voting people to attend that meeting. So, we threw it out there as a virtual meeting, and we asked people to pre-register, to make sure that we were going to get somewhere close to the people we needed. And, we started to get quite a few pre-registrations, so we were pretty happy. As the meeting went forward, it was very seamless, and we actually ended up with, I think, a maximum of about 400 online attendees at the meeting, which is more than double what we've ever got at the actual meeting during the live convention. That was a really pleasant surprise.

Heidi Ellsworth: Wow.

Ted Sheridan: I guess, really that speaks to a couple of things. One thing is that IIBEC members ponied up, they called in when they needed to, and supported the organization by attending. That was the one big, key takeaway from that. I think the other one that was the surprising thing was that maybe IIBEC has had a bit of a problem that they didn't realize, that we didn't realize, regarding the availability of attending that meeting to our members. If you go to the convention, it requires, first of all, some time. It requires some outlay of money for travel, for hotels, and for registration for the convention. With those impediments not in the way, we suddenly got a bump up in our attendance. I think that's something that, going forward, we've taken note of, and I think it's fair to say, Brian, that the online element is going to be brought into our meeting of the members, somehow, going forward.

Brian Pallasch: Yeah Ted, that's a great point. I think that's what my takeaway was. We were able to get a lot more folks engaged in what IIBEC was doing, by offering this virtual component. So, we're going to be in Phoenix next year, and my intention would be that we will have a virtual component next year in Phoenix. And hopefully, be able to bring folks in live to that meeting as well, simply because the better educated and the better informed our members are, the more likely they're going to be to participate in our activities, and continue to be members of IIBEC.

Scott Hinesley: I have received several communications from our members, that have expressed appreciation for the fact that we did that. Because, just exactly like Ted and Brian both said, historically those individuals had not attended the convention. They said that this gave them the opportunity to really feel like they were part of the organization, or the association, and to participate in this. I think that's something, to be honest, I'm surprised that we didn't see this as a possibility in the past. But, I'm excited about where we can take this, going forward.

Heidi Ellsworth: I think it's excellent, and I love how fast you've been able to adapt. Also, Brian, what you were just saying about next year in Phoenix, we may still get a bunch of people together, but we're going to keep these opportunities open for people who can't travel. Now, that's really a strong solution in the new normal, as we're all trying to figure out how that's going to work. I guess, one of my questions would be, I think your being online is going to open up the possibility to a lot of roofing contractors to attend, who maybe haven't in the past. I'm a huge advocate of very strong roof consultants, roofing contractors relationships. What are some of the things, Brian, that you would suggest roofing contractors really look at attending, if not everything? But, just maybe some of the highlights that you think really are going to speak to roofing contractors during your show.

Brian Pallasch: Well, first of all, the entire program is online so they can go check out the program, and see what's available to them. One of the things we're doing, and I'll announce it here on this podcast for you guys and your listeners, is we want to allow folks who are interested to participate in the virtual trade show for free. What I mean by that is, not as exhibitors, but as attendees, if you will. If folks are listening to this, and can remember these three letters, RCS, and you go to the IIBEC website, you can register for the virtual trade show for free, and you'll get a confirmation. You can also go and register for the actual meeting, as well, that costs money. But, I think having that ability to go see what a virtual trade show is, is going to make people more comfortable with it. Not only from the exhibitor side, but also from the attendee side, and understanding how to engage with those exhibitors in a virtual manner. But, there's plenty of education, I'd probably defer to Ted, since he helped develop the program, that would be very applicable to a roofing contractor just as much as it is to our members. So Ted, if you can help me with that, I'd appreciate it?

Ted Sheridan: Yeah. Just looking across a couple here, there [inaudible 00:27:07] to be a good presentation, by Harry Coyle and Stephanie Robinson, all about thermography. We know thermography works well with roofs and with walls, so it's something pretty much for anyone involved in building enclosures. But, roofers I'm sure will love to get a better understanding of that technology. The other one that's pretty interesting is one, Lorne Ricketts is presenting a paper on membrane color and insulation strategy. This goes back to the black versus white membrane debate, and the new idea that some insulation doesn't work as well in cold temperatures. So, his firm has done a big study, and they're raring to present their findings to us.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is good, because a lot of these contractors, as we've noted before, but a lot of these contractors also have RRO behind their names, so they're looking to get their CEH credits. How does that work, for all the roofing contractors, and everybody in general?

Ted Sheridan: Well, the virtual convention is probably going to work very similar to what the actual live convention usually does. That is that CEH's are provided for each presentation that an attendee attends, and the idea is that the attendee then self reports his attendance in his online user portal at the IIBEC website. He or she will get credits that way. Really, it'll be the same sort of weighting system, I believe, the same number of CEHs per hour of attendance that we've used in the past. All of that's going to be very similar. I don't know if we've got any plans for linking up CEHs with the virtual trade show. Brian, you might have more info on that? But, in the past, there has been some value given with CEHs for attendance at the trade show.

Brian Pallasch: Yes, I think the number is three CEHs for attending the virtual trade show, so we are going to be doing that in addition. The total number that you could actually earn, which is more than you need to retain your RRO, or your RRC, or any of our designations, is 26 hours of continuing educational hours, if you consumed all of that education, those 23 educational, 24 educational sessions, and the virtual trade show. So, there's plenty of opportunity to maintain your credential through IIBEC by attending this meeting. That's another reason why we felt it important that we move forward and do this virtually, was to allow our folks to get that piece of their life taken care of this year, which is to maintain their credentials.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah. I think that's so important, and people are going to be learning that they can do this now, any time, on demand. That's going to make a big difference to a lot of people who are trying to keep their credentials up. Before we totally go past the speakers, I do want to point out one that I'm finding very interesting, and am very excited about. That's the Retaining Talent Through Coaching and Mentoring, that's being put on by a number of the ladies from National Women in Roofing, Jennifer Keegan, Jennifer Stone, and Ellen Thorpe. As you know, or maybe don't, I'm somewhat involved, quite a bit involved, with National Women in Roofing, and we are just thrilled that you're going to have these ladies speaking, and have this during the convention. Scott, maybe you can talk a little bit about that? Because I also received the press release, about Amy being on the executive board. I know we didn't talk about this beforehand, but I just have to give kudos.

Scott Hinesley: Yeah, I can't tell you how excited I am about Amy coming on board as the first ever member of the executive committee. I think that shows that IIBEC is committed to this diversity. It also shows a little bit about the industry, at large. I think if you go back quite a few years, there weren't as many non-males, females, in the roofing industry, and we're seeing more and more join the ranks. We're standing here, welcoming this because we certainly want the best and brightest minds, regardless of age, or gender, or anything, race and all of that. We are certainly committed to being inclusive, in every way. National Women in Roofing, they are doing a fantastic job of raising awareness, we completely support their effort. We are excited about where they're going, and where the industry at large is going, so it's certainly something that we're committed to, we appreciate it, and we support it in every way we can.

Ted Sheridan: Yeah, not only, Scott, do we have a woman on the EC, but we've also got Jennifer Hogan, a member of our board of directors who, three of four years ago, won the award for Emerging Professional at IIBEC. So, we've actually got two female representatives on the board, when a lot of years before, I don't think we had any.

Scott Hinesley: That's a great point, Ted. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I think Jennifer Hogan broke an enormous barrier in that she was the first female member of the board, at large. That's a tremendous accomplishment for an organization that's 35 years old plus. Yeah, Jennifer coming on board, we certainly have appreciated her commitment to the industry, to the association, and she has been a tremendous asset for us. I look forward to seeing where she continues on the board as well.

Heidi Ellsworth: I'm thrilled, you all just make my heart warm because this is exactly the diversity of bringing the whole industry together, IIBEC is doing it. You're also doing it through everything that you're doing digitally, this first virtual trade show. I'm going to be there, I'm going to be watching it, I'm going to be going to a lot of these classes. We're also, Roofer's Coffee Shop, has a booth in the virtual trade show. We are proud to be there, supporting your organization. You gentlemen do an amazing job, thank you so much.

Brian Pallasch: Thank you, Heidi.

Scott Hinesley: Yeah, thanks for doing this. We really appreciate you taking the time. I think our industry really needs all the parts working together, the contractors, the manufacturers, the consultants, the distributors, all of that. I think we're heading in a really good direction, and I am optimistic and excited about where we're going.

Heidi Ellsworth: I am, too. I am, too. Brian, any last words?

Brian Pallasch: I would just encourage everyone to go visit the page that will allow you to check out what the virtual trade show and virtual convention is going to look like. Certainly, if you're a little bit on the fence and just want to check it out, you can use that code I gave out, RCS, and you can check out the virtual trade show on June 12th. If you're so enamored, you can sign up and join us for the education, and the keynote speakers, et cetera. We think it's going to be a great show and a great meeting, and hope everyone will join us in June for that.

Heidi Ellsworth: Excellent, excellent. So, for everyone listening, IIBEC.org. I-I-B-E-C.org. Of course, IIBEC is one of our partners on Roofer's Coffee Shop, they're in the directory. Please go visit, find all the information there, plus that RCS code to get you free, into the trade show. I just want to thank you gentlemen, again, for being on Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. I can't wait to be on the road again, next year in Phoenix, and see you there. But, in the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing you online in June. Thank you very much.

Scott Hinesley: Thank you, Heidi.

Brian Pallasch: Thanks [inaudible 00:35:40].

Ted Sheridan: Thanks.

Heidi Ellsworth: For everyone listening, please listen to all of our podcasts on your favorite podcast channel, or on under Read, Listen, Watch initiative on Roofer's Coffee Shop, you can find them all there, too. Have a great day, and we'll see you online at the IIBEC show.