The Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) is honoring the memory and many accomplishments of Tom Black, MRA’s original executive director and founding member. Black died on December 15.
Black served as MRA’s first executive director–a position he held for 12 years– after helping to start the organization in the 1990s. In his role, he helped champion the use of residential metal roofing. He was instrumental in growing the MRA into a leading nonprofit representing the residential metal roofing industry in the U.S. and Canada. According to a media release, he also “increased demand and acceptance for residential metal roofing as a more durable, reliable, and sustainable choice.”
Black started in the industry after earning an undergraduate degree from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., and an MBA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. With experience working at manufacturing plants on the West Coast and in Texas, he identified an emerging pattern: consumers consistently having to replace asphalt roofs on their homes. Working with a founding group of like-minded individuals, Black rallied “industry leaders around metal roofing as a much better solution that offered tremendous growth potential,” leading to the creation of the MR, the press release states.
“[Black] inspired the original coalition of suppliers and fabricators that created the MRA,” says Todd Miller, president of Isaiah Industries Inc., who serves as MRA’s board president and was part of the organization’s original founding group. “He was able to get industry competitors to work together successfully for common good and growth. He was instrumental in developing the vision and strategic direction that created the MRA and helped metal roofing become the second most used residential roofing material.”
MRA officials remember Black for his positive impact, passion, and leadership in driving the growth of residential metal roofing and the industry.
“[Black] was very passionate about residential metal roofing,” says Renee Ramey, MRA’s executive director. “He understood the residential market at the time and how best to reach it. His creative ideas helped pave the way for MRA in its outreach efforts while driving success for our mission: to grow market share for metal roofing in the residential arena.”