Changes in who leads a local roofing business matter to owners and general contractors that bid and buy work through it. Tecta America announced Oct. 29 that new operating unit presidents are in place in Tampa, Lubbock and Austin, and at JP Patti, where a 43-year veteran has retired.
Tecta America promoted Greg Dowdy to operating unit president of Tecta America West Florida in Tampa. Dowdy has nearly 30 years of commercial roofing experience. He started in 1998 as an estimator and project manager in the Tampa market, later served as chief estimator for the Florida branches of a regional contractor, and joined Tecta America West Florida in 2014. He was named vice president of operations there in 2021 and general manager in 2023.
In Texas, Tecta America promoted Darrell Howley to operating unit president of Tecta America Lubbock CS. Howley has more than 40 years in the roofing industry. He entered the trade in 1980 as a laborer and hot carrier on built-up roofing and service work, then advanced to production lead, running the largest jobs and taking on single-ply systems including PVC, EPDM and modified bitumen. He later started his own companies and sold them to their employees. His background also includes foreman, supervisor, sales, operations manager, branch manager and chief executive roles. Howley's first priority in the new position is expanding the branch's relationships with business owners in Lubbock.
Tecta America named Stephanie Osborn operating unit president of Empire Roofing in Austin, effective Oct. 5. As part of the transition, Steve Jones moved into a vice president position, where he will continue to support Empire Roofing's growth.
Osborn has more than 10 years of commercial roofing experience. She began in the service department at Merit Roofing in Dallas, then joined Avco Commercial Roofing in Tyler, Texas, as the company's second employee and an assistant project manager. She was named vice president of commercial there in September 2021, when the business was running roughly $500,000 in the red. Within her first 12 months in that role, she moved it to positive cash flow and increased revenue from $8 million to $10 million. She later became CEO and helped launch a service department and a metal fabrication division, each of which grew into a standalone, profitable operation.
At Empire Roofing, Osborn plans to expand the service division with a high-touch customer service model coordinated with the sales and business development teams. She also plans to make workplace culture a priority.
Aaron Pilch has assumed the operating unit president role at JP Patti, following the retirement of Jim Wisse. Pilch has more than 17 years of commercial roofing experience. He began in 2008 as a roofing apprentice and moved into estimating and project management, eventually becoming senior estimator at JP Patti. He then entered a partnership with another roofing company, where he led operations and managed teams, before returning to JP Patti. His stated priorities include listening and learning, strengthening relationships with employees and customers, and continuing to build the systems and processes that support the business.
Wisse spent 43 years with JP Patti, including more than 20 years as operating unit president. JP Patti is one of the original 10 founding companies of Tecta America, and Wisse led it through continued growth after it joined. He took over from longtime operating unit president Charley Volpe more than two decades ago, in one of Tecta America's first operating unit president successions.
Tecta America operates as a network of locally led roofing businesses, so each operating unit president change affects the executive that owners and contractors deal with in that market. Two of the appointments are internal promotions, one returns a former JP Patti estimator to lead the business, and one brings in an executive with a record of building service and fabrication operations. The stated priorities across the group center on customer and employee relationships in Lubbock and at JP Patti, and on service growth in Austin.
Source: Tecta America.
