The Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) honors the memory and many accomplishments of Tom Black, MRA’s original executive director and a founding member of the organization, who passed away recently.

Black served as MRA’s first executive director– a position he held for 12 years– after helping found the organization in the 1990s. In his role, he helped champion the use of residential metal roofing and was instrumental in not only growing the MRA into the leading nonprofit representing the residential metal roofing  in the U.S. and Canada, but also increasing demand and acceptance for residential metal roofing as a more durable, reliable and sustainable choice.

Black got his start 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 their asphalt roofs on their homes. Working with a founding group of like-minded individuals, Black rallied industry leaders around the idea of metal roofing as a much better solution that also offered tremendous growth potential, and the Metal Roofing Alliance was born.

“Tom inspired the original coalition of suppliers and fabricators that created the MRA,” says Todd Miller, president of Isaiah Industries Inc., who also serves as MRA’s current 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.”

Tom will be remembered for his positive impact, passion, and leadership in driving the growth of residential metal roofing and the industry as a whole.

“Tom was very passionate about residential metal roofing,” said Renee Ramey, MRA’s current 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.”