Details

What is your position within your company?
I am president of Technical Roof Services, Concord, Calif.

What is the most unusual roofing project of which you have been a part?
I was asked to design roofs for World War II concrete pillboxes in Guam that would last 50 years without maintenance—despite being covered with jungle vegetation. After about 30 years, the pillboxes still are leak-free despite going through some pretty nasty typhoons.

What is your roofing industry involvement?
I currently serve on the boards of the Special Interest Group for Dynamic Evaluation of Roofing Systems and the Cool Roof Rating Council. I also have served as an RCI Inc. director, an RCI representative to the Roofing Industry Committee on Weather Issues Inc. and a Roofing Industry Educational Institute faculty member.

Why did you become involved in the roofing industry?
Soon after I started working as a geotechnical engineer, I realized my field was fairly "mature" and hadn't changed much during the past 10 years. The firm where I worked had a roofing department and was looking for help. It sounded interesting, so I signed up.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Stonehenge—I want to sit in the remains of the ring of standing stones and contemplate how our Bronze Age brothers and sisters managed to carve and erect such massive stones and why.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job?
Balancing work and home—there's always something more that can and "should" be done, but I'm no good to anyone unless I take time to rest a bit or go jogging in the hills near my home.

What is your favorite food?
Anything my wife makes for me—we have a deal: If she does all the cooking, I'll do all the dishes without complaining.

What's the most adventurous thing you've done?
Torque testing 3/4-inch-diameter bolts 230 feet in the air near the top of a microwave tower as it swayed back and forth in the breeze

What is your fondest childhood memory?
Fishing off the dock at my grandparents' cabin in northern Minnesota—no matter how small or few fish I caught, my grandmother always exclaimed how fine they were and cooked them up.

Who's your hero?
Dick Fricklas—he knows his stuff, he tells it like it is and he is willing to share his knowledge with anyone who asks.

What's your favorite movie?
"Independence Day"—two misunderstood guys win against technically superior but heartless aliens and impress their women in the end. What's not to like?

If you could invite any three people to dinner (dead or alive), whom would you invite? Why?
Paul the Apostle, Albert Einstein and Herb Brooks—I'd ask Paul his thoughts that day on the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared to him, Einstein to explain his long-standing objection to the probabilistic theories of quantum mechanics and how Brooks motivated the 1980 U.S Olympic hockey team to believe they had a chance against the Soviet Union.

What are your best and worst habits?
My best and worst habit is trying to anticipate what will happen before it does happen.