Victoria and Marcos Sierra sought to bring professionalism and high-quality work to the roofing market in Blytheville, Ark. by forming their own roofing company in 2017. Photos courtesy of Sierra Group Roofing & Solar

A handful of young roofing contractors from around the country got a first-hand glimpse of their potential future success directly from roofing professionals living it at a first-of-its-kind workshop during RC’s Best of Success conference.

Every year, at the conference, RC celebrates its selection of Young Guns — roofing contractors under 40 who are making a difference in their companies or markets.

But this year, roughly a dozen roofing contractors representing companies at least five years old and generating at least $5 million in annual revenue were invited to meet with a group of handpicked facilitators to share information, perspectives and solutions.

The "Young Guns: Pathway to Success in Construction" workshop was an opportunity to get in front of roofing professionals with varied experiences working in the residential and commercial sides of the business and ask as many questions as possible for 90 minutes. It was designed for this year’s group of Young Guns to gain practical advice from people who were in their shoes not all that long ago, in some respects.

Young Gun alumni, along with industry experts, spoke with the Class of 2025 Young Guns to share insights and lessons learned.

“Through interactive discussions, these contractors will build confidence in themselves and learn how to tackle the unique challenges they face as young professionals in roofing,” said Ryan Groth, founder of Sales Transformation Group, who led the session.

“This group (of facilitators) has people that are well respected in the industry, and they’re doing things that many people in this line of work aspire to, so there’s a lot you can learn,” he added.

Joining Groth as facilitators were:

• Anna Anderson, CEO, Art Unlimited; Chair, National Women in Roofing; Frequent RC Best of Success Podcast contributor and annual Young Guns mentor.
• Michelle Boykin, COO, Rackley Roofing, Carthage, Tenn.; Former National Women in Roofing chair, and RC Young Gun 2020.
• Joe Hughes, founder of Contractor Dynamics; Draws on over a dozen years of experience empowering roofing contractors to build strong brands through marketing training.
• Joe Jolicoeur, Vice President, Greenwood Roof Services; Helped create and lead service division for Greenwood Industries Inc.; RC Young Gun 2023.
• Anissa Westfall, Director of Marketing and Growth at Westfall Roofing, Tampa, Fla.; Serves in many roles that helped the company reach record revenue in 2024; RC Young Gun 2014.

Randomly organized by numbering off, the Young Guns broke into smaller groups around the room to focus on questions for facilitators in their particular areas of expertise. Quickly, the conversations went from sharing backgrounds and roofing origin stories to sharing pain points and potential strategies for positive outcomes.

This year's Young Guns had a round-robin style event with Young Gun alumni at the 2024 Best of Success conference, sharing everything from business strategies to leadership advice.

From each corner of the room, facilitators delved into dozens of topics, including family dynamics, specific operations strategies, team-building exercises, technology integration, leadership, culture, recruiting, sales processes and more.

“I talked about pro-activeness versus reactiveness when creating a service division. And everything really under the sun that has to do with service relationships,” Jolicoeur said.

In addition to the practical know-how, attendees said they left with a greater appreciation for the industry.

“It was an incredible opportunity to network and learn from some of the best minds in the industry,” said Nick Zavala, brand president of Fulton, Md.-based American Home Contractors. “The experience reinforced my belief that the future of roofing is in good hands. We have a strong group of young, innovative leaders ready to elevate the industry.”

Drake Gordon, CEO of Executive Exteriors in Dallas, said working in a busy but oversaturated roofing market is among the company’s chief challenges. He said he walked away with some ideas to implement and felt optimistic about where he and others from roofing’s next generation can take the industry.

“It was great to connect with other young aspiring entrepreneurs and very insightful to hear the innovative ideas and plans for the roofing industry from other young professionals [who] will shape the future,” he said.

Plans are underway to host and expand another workshop for potential roofing industry Young Guns at the 21st Best of Success conference, Dec. 3-5, at the LIVE! By Loews Resort in Arlington, Texas. More information is available here.

Do you know our next Young Gun? Reach out to RC Editor-in-Chief Art Aisner and let him know at aisnera@bnpmedia.com.