2021 Metal Construction Hall of Fame
In the late 1990s, Tom Black realized that there was a major hole in the residential metal roofing market and he saw an opportunity to fill it.
Working with some likeminded metal construction industry professionals, he strived to educate consumers about the many benefits of metal roofing. As a result, the Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) was born. Black was MRA’s first executive director and served in this position for 12 years where he tirelessly championed the use of residential metal roofing helping to grow the market significantly.
A Much Bigger Audience
Black says he got his start in metal construction “serendipitously.” After earning an undergraduate degree from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., and an MBA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, he went to work for a company involved in acquisitions: Tacoma, Wash.-based ASC Pacific. He was instrumental in developing manufacturing plants on the West Coast and Texas. During this time, he kept seeing a similar pattern: consumers consistently replacing their asphalt roofs on their homes when they had a great solution in metal available to them.
“I worked with Harold Schroth and the National Coil Coating Association to develop a new market for painted metal,” Black says. “We formed a team [Pat Bush, Peter Croft, Todd Miller and Dick Bus] and put together a proposal to the industry and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) to go after that market, [specifically] residential applications. Del Boring at AISI was very instrumental; his job included developing new markets. Our alliance was manufacturers of metal roofing—who had their product on houses—and their suppliers. We went to paint companies and they were interested in helping their customers develop this big market. Then it just snowballed from there. Then we brought in the Metal Construction Association (MCA) members.”
“Tom built the original coalition of suppliers and fabricators that created the MRA,” says Todd Miller, president of Isaiah Industries Inc., Piqua, Ohio, and part of the MRA’s 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 commonly used residential roofing material.”
A Common Goal
Was it difficult to get competitors to work together? Yes, Black admits at first it was a struggle. However, he admits that once competitors saw the opportunity, they recognized they couldn’t do it on their own. “If we could pull together this whole industry effort, it was going to be much more effective and that turned the corner for them. I think the main thing was to get the industry to see a common goal and work toward it. There was so much to be gained by working together and participating in good decision making.”
“I’ve really enjoyed working with the people I met all across the metal construction industry. One of the blessings of this industry is there are top-notch people with integrity in every phase: metal producers, paint companies, coil coaters, roofing manufacturers and contractors.”
Why residential only and not commercial? “That’s what we organized for and were focused on, and the reason for our success,” Black says. “We didn’t try to chase after marketing opportunities and left those for MCA. Our organization was an independent organization that was organized independently. That was a blessing and it kept our focus on residential. The residential market was about 140 to 150 million squares a year and we were only getting a tiny fraction of it. We directed what limited marketing budget we had toward the market to influence it to the consumers in that market. We had to educate consumers to the advantages of metal—that was a pretty good-sized task. There were a lot of misperceptions that we had to overcome.”
Black’s 12 years as MRA executive director and his original genesis for MRA clearly attained the association’s goal of educating consumers about metal roofing. Convincing millions of people how beautiful, durable and money-saving it can be grew its usage from 3% to 13% during his tenure.
An Industry Vision
“Tom was very much the right person at the right time to help pull together a group of industry manufacturers and get them to see each other as colleagues not competitors,” Miller says. “Tom consistently put the vision in front of us that we were stronger together and because we represented a pretty small market share at the time, we needed to focus on our real competition— other product genres—not each other. Tom consistently brought solid marketing ideas to the MRA and was the lynchpin in creating an organization that now in its 24th year was originally slated to be sunsetted after perhaps five years.”
Jim Bush, CSI, vice president of sales and marketing at ATAS International, Allentown, Pa., has known Black since the inception of MRA. “Tom was a tireless promoter of the residential metal roofing opportunities. Tom would go above and beyond his job responsibilities of MRA and offered countless volunteer hours to help promote the growth of metal roofing. He had the unique ability to rally industry leaders around the cause of metal roofing growth potential. Today’s metal roofing market share growth from the late-1990s to today can be attributed to Tom’s strong work ethic and passion.”
Current MRA executive director Renee Ramey has known Black since 1998 when the company she worked for was a member of the MRA. “He was an important person to the industry and very passionate about residential metal roofing. [He brought] vision, drive and passion. He understood the residential market at the time and how best to reach it with MRA’s messaging. His creative ideas helped paved the way for MRA in its outreach efforts, helping to drive success in our mission … to grow the market share for metal roofing in the residential arena.”
Dick Bus, president of ATAS International Inc., Allentown, Pa., met Black in the early 1990s when Tom was working with the National Coil Coaters Association. “We worked together to help grow the residential market. We supported each other’s activities without duplicating efforts. He was instrumental in developing the business plan, ‘Opportunities in the Residential Metal Roofing Market,’ which became the basis for MRA. Tom is very deserving of this award as he has helped shape the residential metal roofing industry!”
