A family-focused leader

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• Photo courtesy of Florida International University, Miami

Upon entering the small building that houses The Melanson Co. Inc. in downtown Keene, N.H., several things become apparent: First, the "small" building is not small at all—it extends farther than the building's façade suggests and includes, in addition to offices and meeting rooms, an entire precision metal fabrication plant. And the next thing that becomes obvious is that the company that functions within this building is no ordinary company—it is one with an extensive past and rich present.

The Melanson Co. was founded in 1932 and has since become a flourishing business with a strong local reputation. And Rob Therrien, The Melanson Co.'s president, has helped establish and works to maintain the success of the company, which was acquired as Al Melanson Co. in the early 1950s by Therrien's father, Robert W. Therrien Sr., and uncle, Maurice.

"I became involved in roofing as a child growing up in the family business," Therrien says. "Quite frankly, it was a function of your father's a roofer, therefore you get to dabble in roofing, and I never left."

The Melanson Co. has been an NRCA member since 1963, and Therrien's father served on NRCA's board of directors and various NRCA committees. He also was president of the North/East Roofing Contractors Association (NERCA) and earned its highest honor, the Clarence Carr Award. He encouraged his son to become involved with associations, as well.

"When I finished college and came to work for The Melanson Co. full time, my father told me I needed to be involved with association work," Therrien says. "I got involved with NERCA and a couple years later—again at my father's urging—became involved with NRCA."

Since then, Therrien, too, has served as NERCA's president and won its Clarence Carr Award. And he also has been actively involved with NRCA.

And this month, Therrien continues his involvement as he steps up to fill the role of NRCA president.

A family affair

Therrien's grandfather was a master coppersmith from Canada. He had five sons, all of whom went into the roofing industry. The youngest two, Therrien's father and Maurice, acquired Al Melanson Co. in the early 1950s and moved it from its former headquarters in Gardner, Mass., to Keene. The company's name was changed to The Melanson Co. in 1989.

Therrien's father and uncle went on to found Vermont Roofing in Rutland, Vt., and Bennington, Vt.; Tri-State Acoustical in Keene; TimberWolf Manufacturing Corp. in Rutland; and another roofing office in Bow, N.H. Additionally, they acquired AC Hathorne Co., Williston, Vt.

The Melanson Co. also has established precision metal fabrication, precision machining and sheet-metal duct divisions in Keene and Rutland. Combined, these companies, known as The Melanson Cos., now employ more than 300 people.

Growing up, Therrien and his brother, David, swept the floors and helped with odd jobs at The Melanson Co. As Therrien got older, he worked in the yard at the shop and on roofs. He attended Monadnock Regional High School in Swanzey, N.H., where he met his wife, Lianne.

After graduating from high school, Therrien attended The University of Detroit, which is now The University of Detroit Mercy. He worked at The Melanson Co. when he was home during breaks and summers until he graduated cum laude with a professional bachelor's of architecture degree.

Soon after graduation, he married Lianne and returned to Swanzey. He began working full-time at The Melanson Co. and became a vice president. David and their brother-in-law, Robert Lefebvre, also became vice presidents of the company.

In 2005, Therrien's father unexpectedly passed away, leaving responsibility of the company to Therrien; David; their mother, Beverly; and Lefebvre.

"Probably the biggest turning point in my life was my father's passing," Therrien says. "All of a sudden, myself, my brother, my brother-in-law and my mother were left in charge. I realized we were going to have to assume total responsibility for this business my father, my mother and my uncle had built during the years."

But with the help of his brother and brother-in-law, as well as the support of a dedicated and close-knit staff, Therrien has made it work.

"This is a family business," Beverly says. "All our employees are part of our family."

A history of involvement

Therrien has carried on his father's dedication to association work through his extensive involvement with NRCA.

"I first got involved with association work through NERCA, and in the 1980s, those folks nominated me to NRCA's board of directors," Therrien says.

And he quickly realized some benefits of being involved.

"It gives you a great resource and a wealth of information about everything to do with our industry," Therrien says. "And it does so in an unbiased way. As you become more involved with the association and make friends throughout the country, you realize you have a commonality with those people, and at the same time, they don't mind sharing information and best practices with you. And when you pose a problem you are having, you usually can find someone who won't compete with you and will answer you honestly and concisely as to how to deal with the problem.

"To me, it's invaluable to be able to pick up the phone and call any one of the number of people who I've met through the association and say: 'This is going on—what would you do?'" Therrien continues.

Therrien served as NRCA senior vice president from 2007-08; vice president from 1995-97, 2003-04 and 2006-07; and director from 1990-93, 1994-95, 1997-2000, 2001-02 and 2005-06. He also has been a member of many committees, including the Architectural Sheet Metal Committee, Manual Update Committee, Technical Operations Committee, Health and Safety Committee, Insurance Board of Governors and NRCA/RCI Task Force Safety Design, among others.

"The Manual Update Committee was the first committee I was assigned to, and I became chairman at a relatively young and innocent age," Therrien says. "I learned a lot from a lot of great people on the technical side of the association. We did a rewrite of The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual in the early '90s, and it more than doubled in size."

In addition to the experience and knowledge he has gained, Therrien's involvement with NRCA also has benefited The Melanson Co.

"By Rob being involved with NRCA, we definitely have been given the insight of a national organization—government issues, technical issues, etc.—more than most other companies," Lefebvre says.

Beverly agrees.

"It has given us a broader outlook and put us in touch with some nice people," she says. "Although we are all competitors, we are all friends. It also has given Rob a lot of expertise."

And Therrien is looking forward to his continued involvement and new role with NRCA.

"The greatest challenge is going to be keeping everything moving on the right track," Therrien says. "We've had a lot of great presidents in the past. I want to build on what they started and continue to do a great job with a great group of folks and continue to grow the association."

The hand-off

Therrien plans to address a number of issues during the coming year, including immigration.

"I think we need to continue to look at good immigration legislation—emphasis on the word 'good,'" Therrien says. "We need to follow a simple protocol, make it available and have it work. I think we need to continue to fight all the battles on the various fronts—both at the state and federal levels."

Therrien also plans to build on some of outgoing NRCA President Bob Daly's accomplishments.

"Bob did a tremendous job on all fronts, including keeping me in line!" Therrien says. "We've been through a tough budget cycle that was beyond his control. He's worked at and thought through the process of what we need to do as a group to get through the year in a proactive and responsible way. Also, throughout Bob's year we've had the strategic planning process going on. It's been a yearlong process and a tedious process at times. He's done a spectacular job heading it up.

"I think we're at a place where the industry has evolved as a whole because Bob worked so hard to make sure we had buy-in from all sectors, not just a small group," Therrien continues. "He has reached out to manufacturers, suppliers and others to develop a strategic plan. I think that was done with great professionalism. We have an excellent plan now—I just have to figure out how to begin the process of implementing it."

Continuing growth of NRCA's new organization, the Center for Environmental Innovation is Roofing, is another issue on Therrien's agenda.

"Bob's greatest accomplishment was probably getting the center going and bringing together a great cross-section of the industry to do so," Therrien says. "He involved a number of outside resources, including manufacturers, suppliers and contractors, who have been involved with the association previously but not to the financial and volunteer level that they have shown for the center. He has a lot of people excited about this who aren't our normal stakeholders. One of my goals is to continue the center's growth."

Therrien knows he will be building on many of the initiatives implemented and addressed during Daly's presidency.

"This is one of the interesting things with a one-year hand-off," Therrien says. "A lot of what you do is just what's been handed to you as your time in the office is short. But you do have the ability to bring things important to you back to the table."

A valuable resource

Therrien says labor is the most important issue currently facing the roofing industry.

"It'll never stop being our most pressing issue," he says. "It's our most valuable resource."

One of the things Therrien wants to focus on is increasing the perception of roofing contractors' professionalism.

"I think to help find labor means training and increasing the industry's professionalism," Therrien says. "I think some of our online education and training that's going to be made available in short order will start creating an avenue for people coming into the industry to learn and grow and accomplish more."

Therrien also says he plans to devote energy to kicking off Roofing 101, an interactive online educational program that NRCA University is launching this month.

"This is going to be an interesting time," Therrien says. "We have a whole educational series that we hope is going to start to foster itself, and working on that is going to be great. I think one of the things we need to work on is retooling some of our traditional programs on the educational side of the association. That process has begun, and we need to continue that."

Therrien, who served as vice president liaison for NRCA's Health and Safety Committee from 2006-07, also plans to continue NRCA's involvement in government relations to increase worker safety.

"If the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] would take the time to implement legislation that would require parapet walls around the perimeters of buildings and require parapets to be a minimum of 39 inches above the finished roof level, all the guys who access the roof—not just my guys—would have fall protection," Therrien says. "This would solve the No. 1 issue that OSHA cites as far as construction-related deaths: falls.

"Ladder falls are huge violations for OSHA," Therrien continues. "Why don't we fix the problem by having everyone go up the inside of buildings on stairs through hatches or penthouses? For skylights, don't manufacture anything that isn't fall-protected. And general contractors historically have required that each subcontractor take care of his or her own fall protection. Why don't we just build fall protection into the base cost of a building? It's a handful of simple things that would reduce 90 percent of exposures in construction-and the most fatal and devastating injuries. It's going to take changes to building codes, OSHA and current legal precedence, but that's why we have a great staff, leaders and volunteers to start to drive these changes."

A tight-knit group

With Therrien's new role comes a busy travel schedule, and The Melanson Co. undoubtedly will experience some changes. However, Therrien, who frequently travels between the company's five branches and for industry-related events, says his busy travel schedule will not pose a problem.

"I travel quite a bit already, so the balance is there," Therrien says.

And Therrien is confident in his staff's ability to get things done.

"I am not a micromanager," he says. "I believe that people, for the most part, when they are assigned to do a task or have something to get done, will achieve a result as good or better than I could have done myself."

Lefebvre also thinks the company will continue to function well.

"The thing we are fortunate with is we have good people in place," Lefebvre says. "We all know Rob is there when we need him, but we all know we have a job to do. He doesn't have to babysit."

David agrees.

"I think we have a really great depth of leadership here, which is a testimony to Rob's leadership skills," David says.

Beverly also thinks The Melanson Co.'s staff is prepared for Therrien's increased absence.

"When he was asked to do this, he discussed it with us first," Beverly says. "The two other boys are picking up the reins nicely for him. If he didn't have a good staff behind him, he wouldn't be able to do this."

The confidence Therrien and his staff share regarding his increased travel schedule comes from a mutual respect for each other.

"Rob leads by example," David says. "He is hard-working. He is a good listener. He thinks before he says something, and he holds you to high standards."

Anne Hewett, The Melanson's Co.'s office manager, agrees that Therrien is a good leader.

"He will hear you out," she says. "He's a thinker. He will listen to your side of the story. He won't just take someone else's word. He's a fair man."

Hewett, like many employees of The Melanson Co., has worked for the company for many years and has seen Therrien grow up.

"I have been here for 43 years—I was still in high school when I started," she says. "I've known Rob since he was a baby. He's matured and become a leader."

Alex Kossakoski, The Melanson Co.'s executive vice president of roofing operations, also has been with the company for many years.

"I started working for Rob's father," Kossakoski says. "It was 34 years in April. Rob has come to realize the tremendous responsibility he has for the people who work here. There are a lot of good employees who work here who depend on him to keep the company going through good and bad times. Responsibility and the realization of responsibility are the big changes I see in him. He has an appreciation for the loyalty of the people who work for him."

These long-term relationships allow The Melanson Co. to function as a business and family.

"My biggest source of satisfaction at work is being able to work with family and friends," Therrien says. "I look at the people who I have had the fortune to be in this business with—many would call them employees, some would call them associates, but I deem them family and friends. We've got a good group of people.

"The greatest satisfaction is that you can be a third-generation roofing contractor who has had opportunities afforded to him by the hard work of others and still have people you enjoy working with," Therrien continues. "You can't replace good people with anything. Our work force is our biggest asset."

Therrien also appreciated this tight-knit group following his father's death.

"It's interesting—you always wonder what will happen in a time of crisis. We had zero turnover, which speaks well of the people my father had the good fortune of working with. This goes back to the No. 1 asset I mentioned: the family. We'll bicker amongst ourselves, but at the end of the day we are all still here, and we're fortunate to have such great people in all the positions we have."

On the homefront

Another group of people who will need to adjust to Therrien's busy schedule is his family, which includes Lianne; their son, Matthew; and their daughters, Alyssa, Hanna, Olivia and Emma.

"Rob's greatest accomplishments are his children and his commitment to his family and being able to sort of intertwine everything with work and NRCA," Lianne says. "We do a lot of things with the kids as a family."

Although Therrien is busy with work and NRCA commitments and his son Matthew also recently began in the roofing trade, Lianne says Therrien is good at keeping a degree of separation between work and his family.

"He discusses the roofing industry as little as possible at home," she says. "He tries to separate the two though it can be difficult."

In addition to spending time with his family, Therrien enjoys spending time with friends, hunting, fishing, golfing and riding his motorcycle.

"I have a great group of friends outside of work," he says. "Just like many of the people at work, they would give you the shirts off their backs and not ask why. And they enjoy the hobbies that I enjoy—for instance, fishing and drinking a couple of beers! The place I get respite is sitting with five or six of my friends on the ice or in one or two boats in the middle of the lake fishing, and nobody's really said anything during the last half hour, but it doesn't matter—we're just there."

Therrien's family has been able to join him during a lot of his travel for NRCA.

"We take the kids on some NRCA trips," Therrien says. "They love NRCA's Midyear Meetings and going to The Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. The year I tell the kids, 'You're not going,' the response will be, 'What do you mean?' If I say, 'You've got things to do. Don't you have a job?' they will say, 'Yeah, but we're still going to Chicago!' It's Christmas in July for the Therrien family.

"It's interesting because they've made friends," Therrien continues. "They've gotten to know not only a lot of the adults but also the kids from families involved with NRCA, NERCA and the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association. Our kids have hit it off well with the Daly kids, which is nice. It's great because, fortunately, they are all old enough now where you can leave them for 10 minutes and not worry that they are blowing up the room! They can do their own thing for a while."

Therrien hopes his children will be able to continue to travel with him during the next year, as well.

"I hope they will be able to travel with me as much as possible," Therrien says. "I think there will be some issues of managing time, but we have kind of lived this way for a long time. What I'd like to do is take one or two of the kids with me on different trips when they are available and get some one-on-one time. So they may get to travel with their old man more than they already have."

Lianne also plans to join Therrien during much of his travel.

"I'll travel with him as much as possible because that's our time," Lianne says.

Although Therrien's new role will also require him to travel alone at times, he will balance his NRCA responsibilities with work and home.

"We are just going to do it, you know, as much as we can," Lianne says.

And Lianne knows Therrien will be an asset to NRCA.

"Rob is knowledgeable about things you never even thought he would know," she says. "And he has a willingness to find out information if he doesn't know it. He's loyal, and he gets things done."

Therrien is grateful for the support system he will have waiting for him at home.

"I am the luckiest guy in the world," Therrien says. "It started as a baby. My brothers, sisters and I all are adopted. I got to grow up in a great family in a great town. I married my high school sweetheart. I got to coach a few ball teams. I work with good people, and I have good friends. I even get to go to El Salvador each year with fellow Rotarians and Interactors to build houses and do other charity projects. That's a pretty lucky guy!"

Going for it

Therrien believes he is prepared for the responsibility of his new role as NRCA president, particularly because of his already extensive association experience.

"Having been involved with associations for 20 years helps because I have a lot of people I have learned from, depend on and trust. It helps having a great group of resources throughout the country that you can depend on for help and guidance. I've got all the backup I need."

Therrien also is looking forward to continuing to lead NRCA in the right direction and working with his peers.

"I guess I just want us to be in a better place overall than we were when I started," he says. "I think there are a lot of great people involved with our association who have the same motivating factors and drive to get us to that point. I am a firm believer that one person does not do something, it takes a whole group. And we are blessed with a great staff, as well as a great group of contractors with a willingness to volunteer to do this type of work. It's part of why I stay involved."

Therrien considers his new role an opportunity he could not pass up.

"It was an opportunity and an honor to be asked to do this," Therrien says. "It took some time to verify with the homefront and the company, but they are all ready for the commitment to be made. Everyone said, 'It's time to go for it,' so here I am."

Ashley St. John is Professional Roofing's associate editor.

The personal side

What is your favorite word?
Relax

What sound or noise do you love?
The release on my hunting bow

What sound or noise do you hate?
My wife's or kids' voices when I have done something stupid or wrong

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Surgeon

If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
Never thought you would make it, but welcome.

What is your favorite quality in a person?
Humor with the passion for a good time

What is your fear?
Having nothing to do

Service above self

Rob McNamara, president of F.J.A. Christiansen Roofing Co. Inc., Milwaukee, a Tecta America company, became involved with NRCA during the mid-1990s.

"I was invited to join NRCA's board of directors," McNamara says. "My hope was to broaden my horizons and learn from others. That definitely has occurred, and I hope I've been able to give something back in the process."

McNamara certainly has given something back to the association. He served NRCA as vice president from 2006-08 and as director from 1996-99 and 2002-06. Additionally, he has been a member of many committees, including, among others, the Architectural Sheet Metal Committee, Metal Roofing Task Force, Career Path Committee, Community Service and Disaster Relief Committee, Contractor Management Committee, Manual Update Committee and Technical Education Committee.

McNamara also is actively involved with the National Roofing Legal Resource Center and served as its president from 2005-06.

And this month, he begins his role as NRCA senior vice president.

"It is an honor to be able to serve in this role within our industry," McNamara says. "It represents a challenge to seek ways to continue to advance our wonderful industry."

During his time as senior vice president, McNamara plans to offer support to incoming NRCA President Rob Therrien, president of The Melanson Co. Inc., Keene, N.H.

"Naturally, my goal is to support Rob in whatever way I am called upon to do so," McNamara says. "Rob brings a lot of knowledge and passion to our industry in many ways; I hope to assist him and offer my perspective on things as NRCA continues to evolve and tackle the issues before us."

In addition to supporting Therrien, McNamara hopes to address several issues during his term.

"There obviously are many issues facing our industry today," McNamara says. "Immigration is the most immediate key issue for our industry—and country—that remains unresolved. I hope to make a difference by forging a better path for our industry whether it is related to immigration, new green building issues or educational opportunities involving online learning. I would like to continue to serve our members and the industry in whatever way possible."

The coming year will be busy for McNamara. However, he has his friends and family to support him, including his wife, Kate, sons Chris and Connor, and daughter Clare. And even though his new role entails a lot of work and travel, McNamara looks forward to serving NRCA.

"In addition to broadening my own horizons, NRCA has given me many great relationships with the people in our industry," he says. "It is a great business in large part because of the great people.

"'Service above self' is a well-known ideal among Rotarians, and those who have served in this capacity on behalf of NRCA certainly have brought this motto to life," McNamara continues. "I simply would like to continue to serve and foster this ideal."