Episode Transcript
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Columbus in Central Ohio have a richhistory of companies being headquartered here, everything
from technology, manufacturing, retail,insurance, and more. But what about
the leaders behind these companies? Whatmakes them tick? How did they get
their start? This is where youget to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome to CEOs You Should Know andiHeartMedia Columbus Podcast. Welcome back to
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another episode of CEOs You Should Knowand iHeartMedia Columbus Podcast. I'm your host,
Boxer and with me today a coupleof wonderful guests. One who's got
just the background of his family,business story and what he has become today
and how it all started. Andthat's Mike Feesel. Mike Fiesel is the
co founder and CEO of roof Max. But there's more to it than that.
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How we got to where we're atwith roof Max. We'll let him
explain that just a sec. Andthere's amazing partnership that roof Max has with
Rita Sorenan from the Dave Thomas Foundationfor Adoption. So Mike and Rita,
welcome to the show. Welcome tothe podcast tank It great to be here,
Yeah, great to be here.Read it. We're going to get
to you and the foundation in justa sec. But Mike, if we
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could go with you first, howlong have you and the family been in
the roofing business, the roofing industry. Yeah, I started in the roofing
business right out of high school ineighty five and then started my own business
in eighty eight. I so foundedFeesel Roofing and then my brother came back
a year later to be my partner. So you know, over thirty five
years, that's incredible roofing business,in the roofing business. So when you
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started were you were you one ofthe guys that was up on the roof
and yeah, yeah, absolutely,see you started with humble beginnings. Then
I parted my dad's ladder and puton top of my car and started cleaning
out gutters. That led to somebodywho knew an individual and my homes got
a really small contract with them andit just kind of went from there.
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So let me ask you, Mikewith and Mike Feesels with us. Of
course, his new company is roofbut goes a long ways back with Visil
Roofing, and he'll share that withthis with that company and where it's at
today. But did growing up.I mean, is that what the family
did? Did the family dad?What did dad do? No? My
father ran the maintenance department at NheuserBusch. My stepfather was a concrete contractor,
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so I was around construction, buta family friend was in the roofing
business. My brother worked his waythrough college with that company, very small
business in Westerville. He went offto Florida and was in technology and electronics.
And then I just I worked withthe same family friend for about six
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months out of high school and realizedI didn't want to be a roofer,
very difficult work. Stepped away fromit, and it was about a year
and a half later I came backand started doing maintenance on people's homes,
cleaning out gutters. Ultimately went toschool for a trimester, and while I
was in school, had the opportunitywith I homes, and so that's kind
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of how it started. I droppedout of school and sort of doing just
building my company with my homes.Within a year, my brother came back,
we got out of new construction andreally started to build a retail business,
which obviously became, you know,a company that just really focused on
roof replacements, maintenance, you know, and doing advertising with the stations that
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are here at iHeart today wasn't Yeah, there was an iHeart back then.
Yeah. Well, and by theway, we appreciate the partnership. We
truly do. I love hearing storieslike yours, Mike, the entrepreneur spirit
stories because you know, nowadays intwenty twenty four, we hear a lot
of technology stories. Oh someone wascodying and now they have their own app.
But you literally have taken something atrade, a talent I'm going to
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say too, and built it intowhat I would call an empire. But
it's not an easy task. It'snot like you're sitting behind a desk.
This you touched on it. Thisis truly, I'm guessing, probably one
of the toughest jobs in the world, and that's roofing. Very physical.
You know, in the construction business, it's like a factory, but it's
a fragmented factory and no two piecesare manufactured in the same way. Right
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You're doing homes across the city oracross multiple states or the entire country,
so that makes it difficult. Bluecollar is really coming back the service technicians
across many trades, so that's excitingto see but in the early days it
was hard to get labor, qualitylabor, so you really had to and
you had to do a lot oftraining. Yeah. So, but no,
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we love the business. It's anamazing industry. It's gone through its
ups and downs. A little bitof the downs is why we started roof
Max and I can get into thathere later. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Well look let's fast forward a littlebit. So you know, like
you said, you you and yourbrother you form feesel roofing. And what
year was that that you started that? Eighty eight? Eighty eight? Okay?
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Was it from scratch? Mike?Basically did you have any contracts before
you In the back of your pocket, You're like, well, I could
go to m I or I coulddo this and we're set to go.
Or was it there was no moneycoming in, no business at all.
No. I was making money fromcleaning out gutters and then they would let
me do maintenance around the home andat build relationships. Yeah, and then
I had the opportunity with my homes. My first few jobs, probably the
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first ten or fifteen jobs before Ihad the money, I was literally pulling
up to an home job site withmy powder blue Honda hatchback with a ladder
on the top of my dad's borrowedladder. And then I saved enough money
and went and bought an actual constructiontruck and it kind of went on from
there. So, no, theearly days were rough. Please tell me
you still have that ladder. Doyou still have the ladder? It's my
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father's ladder. He still has it. He took it back. That's great.
I love that many memories there.Yeah, well, the story behind
Feesel Roofing and you've since sold it, but you're very tight still with the
owners from what I say. Correct, Yes, but there was a point
where you had built this business upto this brand name. And I love
talking about brands. But eventually,Mike business was good, it was booming.
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You built this incredible brand, butyou came to a point where you
decided, I think it's time tosell. Was it just the offer was
too good to pass up? Explainpartially? So, things had changed in
the roofing industry quite a bit.Can I ask what changed? Storming has
become a big thing. So bytwo thousand and three, we had never
had a major hailstorm hit Columbus,Ohio. Two thousand and three, major
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hailstorm hit the city. Thousands ofcontractors across the country came in the stormers
if you will. Yeah, atthat time, the weather had shifted and
really east of the Mississippi started tosee a lot of storms, hailstorms.
We were hit again, and sixthere was the windstorm of nine, which
was just the remnants of Hurricane Ike. I think it's the first hurricane force
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winds we've had that were I thinkthey sustained her force wins for eight hours
in the city. So that reallychanged the dynamics of the industry. While
at the same time, the manufacturerswere removing asphalt from asphalt shingles. So
today's product is one third thinner andlighter than shanngles of let's say the eighties
and even into the nineties. Andthis product is lasting for fifteen and twenty
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years. In the early days whenwe were installing roofs, they lasted for
thirty years. Today they called thata fifty year product, and my brother
and I had a problem with that. We would tell our customers, but
then you had other rooping contractors saying, well, they're using a cheap product.
Our product will last for fifty years. I went from thirty, they
called it a thirty, then theycalled it a forty, and then a
fifty. All of the manufacturers werekind of forced into the same game,
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and so we didn't like the lackof integrity that we saw. I think
most contractors today and I think manyhomeowners are aware that shingles don't last as
long as they did. Why yousee such an explosion in metal roofing.
See metal roofing everywhere, right,yeah, people are you know, the
older generation doesn't want to buy anew roof every fifteen or twenty years.
Today Columbus, Ohio, it's overtwenty thousand dollars for a new roof on
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average, so it's very, veryexpensive. And so less asphalt means less
petrochemical oil. It's the petrochemical oilthat allows asphalt to be waterproof and flexible,
just like our roads, right yeah, yeah, So when you get
a pothole on a road, it'sbecause the oils have dried out. And
when the oil dries out on aroof, they blow off and the shingles
en up in your backyard and youneed to replace the roof. So that's
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where kind of roof max came in. So, Mike, what exactly is
roof max. So roof max isa very simple spray on treatment that penetrates
down into the asphalt of the shingleand restores flexibility and waterproofing protection. So,
asphalt is a byproduct of refining gasoline. So it's petrochemical right, It's
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carbon based, and so it's thepetrochemical oil within the asphalt that allow allows
the asphalt to be flexible, contractand expand as well as repel water.
Roof max is a plant based gasoline. It's actually biodiesel or a derivative of
biodiesel. So because it is aplant based gasoline, roof max is oil.
All natural oil marries identically to thehard hydrocarbon backbone, which is where
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the petrochemical oil used to lie.But when it evaporated, it became brittle.
That's why you get a pothole,and it marries identically chemically. It
marries identically together and restores the flexibilityand waterproofing protection. As a matter of
fact, the studies conducted by theOhio State University have proved that we take
in this specific study, it wasa seventeen year old roof that had to
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be removed from the home because ithad failed, and we sent and treated
and untreated samples. Ohio State didinto a testing lab, the main testing
lab for all of the roofing manufacturers, and we passed the same flexibility testing
that's required of a brand new roof. So we brought that roof back to
life. We rejuvenated that roof,or we restored that roof back to its
original condition. Now, when Isay original condition, that's flexibility, the
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coating on the top. When thatsheds off, we can't put more coating
back. We can't keep a roofon a home forever, but we can
double the life of the average roof. How long did it take you to
develop this technology? I mean,did you still have Feesel roofinge when you
were no? We sold we hadsold Fiesel and went down this path.
We started a company called roof Revivers, as a name implied that's what we're
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trying to figure out. I wason the thirtieth page of a search doing
all this research and came across anold patent that had sat on the shelf
for many years. Went did adeal with that organization. Tested the product,
of course, to make sure thatit would work locally. Then we
partnered with the Soybean Council, BetelLabs Ohio State and did a generation to
product. So it was just,yeah, it was a product. It's
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amazing, right, it's an incredibleproduct, but it wasn't in the hands
of a marketer, and it wasn'tin the hands of a marketer that understood
the roofing industry to be more specific, Yeah, and the challenges in the
roofing industry. So it had satfor seventeen years on the shelf until we
got a hold of that product.By the way, you're I was looking
on your website. Is it roofmaxdot com? Is that what it is?
Yes? Okay if you're wanting tofind out more info, because you
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do. I mean, you havea bunch of FAQs up there and you
talk about your products. So it'spretty fascinating. So it sounds to me
like you were inspired to figure outbetter technologies for roofs and that's one of
the reasons you sold Feesel. Yes, we were looking for more sustainability.
The commercial roofing industry has evolved overthe last thirty plus years that I've been
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in the industry, and today theflat roofing systems the majority of them get
some type of a coding ge.Silicone ge has entered that space and other
large manufacturers, So most roofs todayon commercial properties, they don't just install
it. They install it, maintainit and then put coatings on top of
it over time and get a lotmore life out of that roof. So
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the life cycle cost is considerably lessand you're keeping debris out of landfills.
But there wasn't a solution for steepslope or asphalt shingle roofs, which is
eighty five percent of the US andCanadian markets. Yeah, so most everything
has an asphalt shingle on a steepslope brook at church, a school,
and so we wanted to figure outa way to maintain and extend the life
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of those roofs. And that's whatroof Max really is about. So you
started roof max in what twenty seventeenor something like that, or we hard
launched in twenty nineteen. We startedin seventeen and then hard launched in twenty
nineteen. But we had to formsome partnerships with the American Farmer, the
Soybean Association here locally, Ohio StateUniversity was involved with testing environmental impact studies.
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Bettel Labs was involved with increasing theformulation the quality of the formulation.
So yeah, we had a lotof local involvement with other great organizations institutions
here. Yeah, Mike Theesil iswith us. He is one of our
guests with CEOs you should know andiHeart Media Columbus podcast. He's one of
the co founders and CEO of roofMax. We also have Rita Soorind with
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us, who is from the DaveThomas Foundation for Adoption. Rita, We're
going to get to you. Ipromise to just a sey here so you
start Rufemax. Who are some ofyour big clients? So our dealers are
nationwide. We have over three hundredand I think it's sixty seventy dealers now,
so we're in all the you know, in every state and we're working
for just mister and missus homeowner aswell as real estate investment trust like Livecore,
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the the largest real estate investment trust, and multi family and real estate
organizations you know, remax hr allof them. So we have and when
I say clients, right, they'rethe clients of our of our franchisees,
if you will, our dealers arethe franchisees. It's not a franchise model,
but it is the same. It'sa dealership. These are independently owned
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and operated at the local level.Wow, So that's incredible or sixty thousand
plus customers now, I think weare over two hundred million square feet treated
at this point. Well, Mikeand Rida. One of the things and
one of the reasons we love todo this podcast one, it's local.
Our love for Columbus. We loveto talk with people that our entrepreneurs and
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are the fabric of this community.And you two definitely are part of that.
Explain how did this incredible partnership betweenthe two of you start? Rita,
Yeah, it is an incredible partnership. And the work that we're in
a nonprofit organization, you depend onpartnerships to get the mission done, and
particularly this mission. So Mike cameto us. He knew about us,
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he did. I mean, heis a researcher. He knew more about
this cause and the depth of thiscause than anybody I've ever met, some
of my board members even, andI think he did his research and said
this might be a good bet asa partnership to involve their dealers to involve
their customers in engaging in this causeof foster care adoption. So we're just
delighted in today's the day that we'reactually announcing this partnership to his teams,
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to ours, and to anybody thatwill listen, because this is what it's
all about. In the nonprofit world. Are these natural alliances that are committed
and passionate about a cause. That'swhat Mike and his team are. Mike,
I want you to touch on it, but if you don't mind real
quick, just for those that arelistening and who maybe are not familiar with
the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption,would you mind explaining sure. Dave Thomas
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Foundation for Adoption is a national nonprofitpublic charity. Yes, we're located right
here in central Ohio, but wehave a footprint in all fifty states.
We actually have a separate foundation inCanada as well. Our mission is very
simple. It's to dramatically increase theadoptions of children who are in foster care
through no fault of their own.They've been abused, neglected, abandon and
their cases have risen to the levelthat a court has permanently severed their legal
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relationship with their biological family, sothey're legal orphans in this country waiting for
a family to step forward. Andtoo many of those children turn eighteen and
leave foster care without a family,frequently to negative outcomes because they don't have
that safety net of family. Sothose are the kids that we're most concerned
about. That's twenty thousand a yearin this country who turn eighteen and don't
have a family. One hundred andseventeen thousand children as we sit here today
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have been freed for adoption and arewaiting for family. So we work on
all of those issues. We haveprograms that help move them out of foster
care and into adoptive homes, lotsof awareness raising, and we were founded
by Dave Thomas, the founder ofanother Central Ohio based company, the Wendy's
Company. He was adopted and itwas his story that as he was moving
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into late in his career, wantedto really put into action what was very
much in the DNA of the wayWendy's Company, which was giving back in
the communities in which they operated,not unlike what Mike is doing. And
so he created the Dave Thomas Foundationfor Adoption in nineteen ninety two as a
national nonprofit public charity. I thinkwe're mistaken sometimes for a corporate charity,
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or a family charity or even acommunity foundation. We're not, and we
love that. We're an independent,nonprofit public charity, arm in arm with
the Wendy's Company and anyone else thatwill step along with us in this cause.
But Dave Thomas created it that way, I think, so that we
would get out, so we wouldtalk about these children, so that we
could dispel the myths and misperceptions thataround them and keep them in foster care
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much too long, but a reallysimple mission, Let's get these kids into
adoptive homes. I love that.Reader well, well, said Mike Fiesel.
You could have gone anywhere to giveyour help and support and love for
a foundation, a nonprofit, butyou decided on the Dave Thomas Foundation for
Adoption. What inspired you? Sowe did? We knew that we wanted
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to do something that was aligned withchildren and you know, adoption housing,
whatever the case may be. Welooked far and wide. We started looking
at in Africa. I'm an avidtraveler. What really started to touch me.
Over the years, I've done alot of backpacking all over the world.
Mostly Third World, some of thatwith my brother, most of it
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was alone, okay, And andsee to see these these children, you
know, and and and adults aswell, families, but but children specifically.
And so when as we look Africaand other places, and then we
started to look in our own backyard, and I didn't I knew Dave Thomas.
I knew Wendy's. Of course,I knew the Dave Thomas Foundation and
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that he had been adopted, butI didn't know the deeper story, which
was these children that they time out, as Rita said, and they're they're
the most at risk because these otherchildren. I think it's seventy five percent
the children do make it back totheir family, and which is wonderful,
But what about the twenty five percentthat don't, right, And these are
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the children that are the hardest toadopt because they're no longer a two year
old or a five year old,right, They're now probably a pretty challenging
twelve year old or a fourteen yearold, and that takes a very special
individual to adopt them. And theyhad figured out a model that makes this
happen. And I said earlier inthe room before you, before we started
the interview. The real heroes inall of this, besides Rita and her
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team, are these parents. Theseamazing, amazing people. I mean,
you talk about angels to take onthat challenge, and you're talking about the
foster foster parents. I mean,this is not going and adopting a beautiful
baby or a three or four yearold. This is again, this is
a challenging team that has been inand out of the system and obviously challenges
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at home. Finally to the pointto find out one day that you're now
a permanent ward of the state.And that's that's rough, you can imagine.
So it takes a very special individualto do that. And so you're
looking for the needle in the haystack, I would assume, and they figured
that out, and that's amazing.So and actually, as we're starting to
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scale, they're starting to scale,they've really dialed in their model. And
so as we looked around and asI learned more about the Dave Thomas Foundation,
it was just a natural fit.Not to mention, they happen to
be from Columbus, Ohio, Andironically, when I went to meet Rita
for the first time, we putthe roof on that building it used to
be the Boar Corporation Dominion Homes,and it was in the early two thousands.
We put a wood shake roof onthere that's still on the property.
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And so anyway, how ironic isthat? Yeah, yeah, that's too
funny. By the way, doyou do you go around Columbus Ago?
Yeah, we did that roof,We did that roof. Yeah, it
was a long time again. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we've done a
lot of roofs here for sure.But I'm going to ask about what the
partnership means and what we can lookforward to moving forward. But if I
could ask you real quick, Mike, clearly you're a very successful man.
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You touched on you like to hikeand especially going to third world countries.
Is there a reason for that?Do you seem like a very you're very
successful man, but you seem likea very humble man too. What is
it that inspires you to see someof those things that we don't get to
see every day. We're very We'relucky to be in the country we're in.
Yes, we are. I've alwayssaid, if you wanted to solve
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the world's problems, if I werethe president of the world, I would
throw every child out at eighteen,they'd have to leave, and they'd come
back two years later after they hadabout five stamps in their passport. I
think a lot of things would changewhen you go out and realize how fortunate
that we are. Not to mention, it's not just all of the poverty.
I mean just amazing people. Whenyou get off the beaten path and
not staying at a resort. Mexico'swonderful, you know. All inclusive resorts
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are great, you know, andI've done it as well. But when
you go off the beaten path,you really meet people, you understand the
culture, and I just find itamazing. I love culture and I love
people. So, Mike, ifyou had a favorite place that you've gone
to people wise that wow. Ireally can't wait to get back and talk
with those people again. I loveMexico, Okay, but I love Yeah,
I love Mexico. It's always beena kind of a special spot in
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my heart. And actually, therewas this young young man that I met.
He was selling bracelets, yeah,and it was in Cancun and he
was selling bracelests into the plaza.His name was mcgal. He's probably eight
or nine and I thought that wasyou know, his name was Mike always
said, oh, my name isMiguel, and so he thought that was
cool. And his little bit ofEnglish my little bit of Spanish. And
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so when I would see him,I would always interact with him just a
little bit. He was busy,he was working. I'm walking home one
night to the hotel and I lookin a doorway and there's three kids laying
on a cardboard box and one ofthem was Miguel, and it just it
really floored me. And that wasnot like the pivotal moment that I said
I'm going to do something, Yeah, but it hit me a little harder
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because I'd had and I had noclue. You wouldn't have thought. I
mean, he was just such aso much energy and positive and just such
a neat little guy. You know. I don't know if he was fully
homeless, or that's maybe where heslept sometimes because he had worked late.
I don't know, but obviously obviouslyat that age to be sleeping on the
street was pretty impactful for me.My brother and I've always wanted to do
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something. When we started this business, my brother, my sister or other
partners, we said that we reallywanted to do something once we got the
business to a scale, and nowwe're at that point, and so we
started six months ago looking for theright partner. We've been in conversation with
the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption forprobably three months, probably three months so
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and again, as Rita said,today's the day that we announced to all
of our dealers nationwide. Wow,and we're just so excited. Well,
Mike and read ownership for the bothof you. What does this partnership mean.
What does the future look like thenfor the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
moving forward? Yeah, Well,I'll start with at a very basic level,
it's about fundraising as a nonprofit organization, if we can get people engaged
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in the cause and they feel movedenough that they'll help donate and make things
happen. But at a much biggerlevel, this is about understanding that nothing
happens in this world without people workingtogether, without people understanding what it is
that is behind the dynamics of fostercare and kids in foster care. And
Mike's right, we talked about,you know, the children we serve aren't
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necessarily the babies in foster care,although they're there. They're teenagers and children
and sibling groups and children with specialneeds, and children sadly who have been
in foster care for so long thatthey just want to get the heck out
of there and be on their own, and they don't understand the need for
family, and so they push againstfamily. So if we can get people
engaged that right here in our backyardin Columbus, or the backyard in Oklahoma
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City, or whatever your backyard is, there are children who simply need someone
to step forward to foster and hopefullyto adopt and bring them into their family.
And so partnerships like this help usget that message out in a much
broader way. And when there arepassionate groups involved, when the dealers are
involved, when their customers are involved, we see phenomenal things happen, not
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just at the fundraising level, butat that understanding level of moving to action
level on behalf of these kids.So it's really both of those. Yeah,
you're read, I was thinking asyou were talking to your reach is
nationwide plus Canada. Mike with yourcompany and roof Max same thing. So
this is a great marriage here andespecially to get the word out. Anything
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you want to add to what Ritajust said. You know, for me,
it is getting the word out.You know, I'll be honest.
Of course, everybody wants to dogood, but it takes money to do
good, as Rita said, andin business, businesses must be profitable.
We're not a nonprofit, so Iwanted something that we could get the company
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behind to rally behind. We've ralliedbehind sustainability, keeping to Briata landfills.
That's all wonderful, but this isa much deeper impact. It's better for
recruiting, it's better for retention employees, dealers, people who are like minded
and alignment. I think that itwill touch the hearts that I think that
today during the announcement, there's goingto be many dealers that are very excited.
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I think there will be some thatgo, this is interesting, and
there's going to be some that arelike, why are we doing this?
But I believe that over time,those that get engaged and involved will really
find the impact because you know,I started this off as a business decision
and wanting to do the right thing, of course, but it always has
to start with a business decision.And over time, as I really have
gotten to know what the team does, at Dave Thomas and what the impact
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that it's making. It's impacting meat a different level. So they're going
to go through that same evolution.We did things at FEESL to help the
community. We were a small company, a local company, and it always
felt good when you could go outand help someone in need. Maybe it
was one of our salespeople would comeback and say, I've got a customer
and man, they're really in abad way, and we would decide to
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put the roof on their home forfree. That always made you feel good.
Yeah. Absolutely, And so Iknow that this is going to impact
many people beyond just the core peoplewithin the company, but all of the
dealers at a brighter at a broaderlevel. Not to mention the story that
they're going to tell each time they'resitting at the kitchen table with the customer
and now make them aware of theDave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and really what
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it means the story for those listeningrita, where can a person if they
want to help or just find outmore, where's a good spot to go.
Yeah, we've got a very robustwebsite www. Dave Thomas Foundation dot
org and there's all kinds of waysto jump in to help to learn more
about what this foster care situation means. We also have an eight hundred line
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one eight hundred ask ask DTFA iffolks want to get a live voice during
business hours. Yeah. By theway, if I get ask too.
With the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, do you oversee almost the entire process
from the foster parents themselves to thecare they're getting in the homes? I
mean, what's your umbrella over theYeah, it's a great question. We
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typically step in at that point atwhich children have been freed for adoption,
so the court has legally and permanentlysevered the relationship with their family. Now
they're sitting in foster care, andthey have already been in foster care for
two or three years. Now they'resitting there waiting either until they age out
at eighteen or until someone steps forwardand adopts. So that's our sweet spot.
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We certainly work with states and countiesall across the nation who provide that
foster care support, and right herein Columbus, Ohio through Franklin County Children's
Services and others, but that's notwhere we put our effort. We put
our effort into those children who arewaiting to be adopted. Read it.
By the way, have you alwaysdone this line of work? What's your
background? If you don't want measking, No, it's a great question,
because it's not too dissimilar to Mikein a way. I was on
(28:22):
an entirely different track. We hadjust moved back to Columbus, Ohio.
I had an infant myself, andthere was this horrendous case in the news
about an infant that had been abusedand died, and I was primed.
And I was also one of thosekids that, much to my parents' consternation,
was always thumping my you know,pounding my fists, saying that's not
fair when it had to do withkids. So I always had an innate
(28:42):
sense of think for just of justicefor kids. But that was a pivotal
event. I started volunteering here inColumbus for what was then the League Against
Child Abuse and began to learn aboutwhat are the dynamics that cause a parent
to harm the child that they shouldbe keeping safe and began to understand and
those dynamics that turned into a staffposition. So was there for nearly a
(29:03):
decade learning as much as I couldabout the dynamics and building my professional experience
as a program builder, and thenhad the opportunity to move to another organization
and lead the quarter Point at SpecialAdvocates program here in Columbus, Ohio that
works with families once abuse has occurred, they're now involved in the legal justice
system. Who's the advocate, who'sthe voice for the child in that situation?
(29:25):
And was there began to develop thatleadership sense. But that really important
part of growing a business is howdo you build and deeply maintain relationships that
help you advance the cause. Andthen had the unique opportunity about twenty two
years ago to join the Dave ThomasFoundation for Adoption. So for me,
it's been I'm not sure where thefull circle ends, but it's been full
(29:45):
circle from that prevention piece, howdo we keep kids out of foster care?
Intervention? What do we do oncethey jump into foster care? How
do we be their best advocates toget them home hopefully, but if not,
to get them on the right trackfor adoption. And then here now
that we've created so many legal orphansin this country, how do we get
them home quickly? Yeah, Ritabless you. You're doing God's work,
(30:07):
You truly are. Look as wewrap up, Mike, what's next for
the company? But by the way, before you answer that, can I
just ask you? You sell Dieselroofing and they still have your lab they
bear your your last name. Isthat odd? I mean, that's got
to feel pretty good for you,Like, Wow, this company comes in,
buys the company and they keep ourlast name. You know, that's
(30:29):
what you know? That's the asset, right, it was the brand?
And no, it did a bitat first. It was very tough after
we sold. It was tougher thanI thought because then what's next? That
was kind of your identity? Wassure? Were you ever afraid of knowing
you? I'm sure you did yourdue diligence and made sure it was a
good, solid company. But wasthere ever a part of you that worried,
(30:52):
Okay, are they going to comein and not have great customer service
or a great quality? Did youever worry bought that? I didn't.
I mean I didn't know Lea Robertowho bought the company. I knew him,
but not extremely well. But Iknew Ross Appeldorn very well. Who's
today they're president? So I'd saidearlier he worked over at ABLE for a
(31:15):
long long time, and actually beforeAble he worked at FEESL, So there
was a long long relationship and Iknew his character and they're great guys.
They've done an amazing job with thecompany. They've grown it to be really
able and feesil or two of thetop companies in the country. So yeah,
no, they've done an amazing job. So yeah, that was I
wouldn't say it was a big concernfor early one. For me, it
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was tough for just stepping away andthat was my identity. It's all I'd
ever done. Yeah, so nowmy identity is definitely roof Max. Yeah.
Yeah, and you know that's takenon a life of its own.
So Mike, if you don't mind, as we wrap up, tell us
the future of roof Max. What'snext. Continue to grow the brand,
continue to build really strong partnerships.We all male, we'll get into roof
(32:00):
replacement and even solar okay, andthen expand of course up into Canada.
Yeah, so we really want tobuild a company that's the gutters up.
The platform is roof Max Rejuvenation,get more life out of your roof.
So that money saving element as wellas obviously sustainability. But then you use
those relationships to sell other products andservices. Again kind of gutters up.
(32:23):
Sure. Sure, By the way, just because I'm fascinated and I'm a
nerd, the solar aspects of itare we seeing. I've seen it a
little bit, and I won't namedrop just because you know, I just
won't name drop. But there aresome companies that are providing those instead of
big cumbersome solar panels, they workin the form of shingles nowadays, some
(32:45):
of these companies. Is that kindof what you are alluding to. I
believe the future of integrated solar isthe only way to go. You're seeing
that a lot more in Europe andit's starting to happen more here. The
challenge with the solar industry, likeso many things, You've got people that
are selling solar systems putting it ona home that needs a new roof in
the next five years, and todetach and reset, you know, detach,
(33:08):
replace the roof and reset, you'vejust wiped out most of the savings.
Yeah, and so you know thatbecomes a challenge to me, the
best time to replace, to installa solar roof is when you are actually
replacing the roof. Okay, yes, and I and I do believe that
integrated solar is the way to go. So the battery technology is getting a
lot better. Yeah, it certainlyis, just out of curiosity. Are
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we going to see this from youin three to five years? Maybe it's
going to be a three five years. Yeah, we have to We still
have to grow the brand, right, we are a national company. We're
maybe a whisper in the ear ofthe consumer at this point nationally. Yeah,
but you know, we're certainly not. It takes a lot of horsepower,
marketing horsepower to do that. Sowe'll see over the next two years
(33:52):
that we were this year we are. We will double the company, double
the marketing, the net We're startingto come into the doubling. So we're
probably three years away, way beforepeople are like, okay, roof max,
I've heard of that, right,And it's another few years before I
know exactly what that is. AndI believe in the next decade, rejuvenation
is as common as you know,uh, water sealing your driveway yeah yeah,
(34:16):
right, or resealing your your asphalt. Right, it needs to become
so it takes time to build trust. Absolutely. Well. Look, I
can't thank you both enough for yourtime. Mike Fiesel, who is the
co founder and president CEO of roofMax, and also Rita Sorenet, who
is the President CEO of the DaveThomas Foundation for Adoption. Well if you,
(34:37):
congratulations on this amazing partnership and thanksfor Timon, thanks for being a
guest this week on CEOs you ShouldKnow. Yeah, I appreciate so much.
Yeah, for sure having CEOs YouShould Know is hosted and produced by
Brandon Boxer, a production of iHeartMedia, Columbus