2020 Metal Construction Hall of Fame
For more than 35 years, Todd Miller has spent his career working tirelessly in the metal roofing industry, and as a part of the Metal Construction Association. It is this dedication to the betterment of the residential metal roofing market and the association that has added him to this year’s Metal Construction Hall of Fame nominees.
Miller is the president and co-owner of Piqua, Ohio-based Isaiah Industries Inc., the business his father, Donald Miller, started in 1980. Known then as Classic Products Inc., Miller worked at the company during summers throughout high school and college, working out in the plant packing up metal roofing. After graduating from Bluffton College, he joined the company doing sales and marketing, and traveling around the country setting up contractors to sell their products.
While the company started out doing commercial roofing, including the metal roofs on Pizza Huts, Dairy Queen, 7-11, etc., they decided to pivot and enter the residential metal roofing market. “We knew we wanted to focus on residential,” Miller says. “We just saw it as a more stable, long-term sandbox to play in.”
Association Leadership
Miller credits Dick Bus, president of ATAS International Inc., Allentown, Pa., and Hall of Fame inductee, for getting him involved in the Metal Construction Association (MCA) in the mid-1990s. “I’ve always thought MCA was a tremendous organization,” Miller says. “To see that ability for competitors to come together and selflessly work for the benefit, growth and development of the industry, is really something special.”
Miller’s participation in the association continued with Classic Products being one of the original members of the Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA). He remains active in the groups, and has written or co-written numerous technical bulletins and installation guidelines. He served on the board of directors from 1995-2015, and was MCA chairman in 2013-14. In January, Miller was honored with the MCA’s Larry A. Swaney Award for his contributions to the success of the association and the betterment of the metal construction industry.
Miller acknowledges the MCA has shaped his approach to business in general, from looking at everything as partnerships and working together, whether it’s with competitors, customers or vendors. MCA has also helped them meet and develop closer relationship with vendors.
When it comes to changes in the industry, Miller says market growth and market development has been huge. “Thirty years ago, when you would start talking to a homeowner about metal roofing, they really didn’t have any concept of what you were talking about,” he says.
“And today we find that consumers have some pretty good advanced notions of metal roofing, or perceptions of metal roofing, and I think a lot of that has to do with the efforts of the MRA. Instead of having to convince homeowners that metal is a viable option, you can walk them down this path helping them figure out what metal roof is best for them.”
Taking his knowledge of the residential metal roofing industry and his passion for helping people, Miller started an “Ask Todd Miller” website to guide homeowners on how to select the right metal roof for their home. “I developed the website as a way to connect with consumers and answer their questions, bring them reliable information and really just guide them to the decision that’s right for them and their home,” he explains.
Many of the developments we have been involved with over the years, and really have involved the whole industry, really came out of relationships with MCA. That could include things like the adoption of PVDF paint technology and using COOL pigments in paint.”
Todd Miller, Isaiah Industries Inc.
“Todd has a deep caring approach to business and to the industry,” says Edward Karper, global product manager at Philadelphia-based Axalta Coating Systems. “He legitimately wants to advance the metal roofing industry and leave things better than when he found them. These traits served him well as a leader of the MCA, and continue to shine bright in whatever cause Todd takes up.”
“I think the way to sum up the work of Todd is his unique ability to calmly analyze situations and communicate a clear forward plan,” adds James Bush, CSI, vice president of sales and marketing at ATAS International, and Hall of Fame inductee. “His tireless work outside of his own organization has helped grow the residential and steep-slope metal roofing industry dramatically since 2000. All of us in the industry have been positively affected and influenced by the work of Todd.”
A Company Rooted in Faith
Miller now runs the company with his former college roommate, Kelly Joseph, who joined the company in 1988 as controller and in 1995 became the chief financial officer. In 2010, they changed the name of the company from Classic Products to Isaiah Industries to reflect the company’s growth and its expansion with various divisions, including Classic Metal Roofing Systems, Kassel & Irons and Green American Home. “About 10 years ago, my business partner and I both recognized the fact that you really can’t separate your faith life from your business life,” Miller explains, “and we didn’t want to. So we became a little bit more vocal about our faith in our business life.”
While not all of the team members in the company share the same faith, Miller says they’ve always rallied people around the idea that they are more about relationships and serving people than really being in business to just do business and make money.
While the name change to Isaiah Industries, which was chosen after the prophet Isaiah in the Bible, had to do with being more public with their faith, Miller says it also had to do with marketing. “We had developed a bit of a brand for the Classic name and then we had acquired some other brands such as Kassel and Irons. And we wanted to be able to not necessarily show one of those brands over the others, we wanted those brands to be on even footing.”
Outside of the company and his work with MCA, Miller spends time with his wife, son and two dogs, and is involved with local non-profits, serving on some boards. “A lot of them have been faith based,” he says, “but I’m also involved in programs like the United Way and the chamber of commerce.”
“My dream for our industry is that we continue to be very forward thinking. I would love to see our industry even put together a think tank where folks would work together and kind of dream and scheme on the future of metal and construction. I feel like there’s probably less on the horizon right now in our industry than I have seen at any other time, and I just think we need to be working together and figure out what that future’s going to look like.”
