Biographies Are For Dead People

May 20, 2009 | Filed under: Articles, Misc

Funny thing about biographies. They should be reserved for the dead, I think. If you’re visiting this site, you’ve maybe read my biography. People get paid big bucks to write stuff like that. Stuff that sounds all fancy and impressive. Let me tell you the real story.

In life, we all have certain things that we’re blessed to be able to learn a little bit about. It may be from classes we took, parents and others who influenced us, the job we hold, or perhaps just from a special interest or hobby we’ve picked up along the way. It seems that the thing I know a little bit about is metal roofing and, along with that, I’ve learned a thing or two about ventilation as well.

Metal roofing seems like an odd thing to have an interest in, doesn’t it? Well, it seems that back in 1980 my father was working for Alcoa Building Products when the entrepreneurial bug bit him (again) and he struck out on his own to create Classic Products, Inc. Classic was actually incorporated to produce vinyl siding but somewhere along the way, like often happens to entrepreneurs, Dad and his partner at the time got sidetracked and they ended up acquiring some aluminum roofing product lines from Kaiser Aluminum.

I was in high school at the time. I spent many hours after school and during summer vacations helping make aluminum roofing and accessories in the plant. I remember that during my last year of high school I partook in “Senior Skip Day” – not to go to the local lake and party with my classmates but to instead work in the factory. I needed money for college. And, because my parents weren’t about to forge a sick note for me, I did a detention for Senior Sick Day. One of only five in my class to actually do detention for it – and it was the only detention I ever had in school.

So, as the business was growing, I went to college. Started out in pre-med but, a little bit of my old man had rubbed off on me I guess and I ended up as a Communications major with a whole bunch of business classes. I never really intended to end up in the family business but, whenever I went on job interviews, everyone talked to me about “training” and “entry level”. That didn’t sound too exciting to me when I could instead go work at Classic and pick up with an industry I’d already been blessed to learn a fair amount about. So, that is what I did and, a couple of years later (a month after I got married in fact – I tend to always do big things in doubles and triples), Dad and I bought out his partner and Classic became a “family business”.

Well, that tells you how I came to be in the metal roofing industry. In future posts, I’ll tell you a bit about what I’ve done and where my true passion lies.

todd Miller

has spent his entire career in the metal building products manufacturing industry. He is president of Isaiah Industries, an organization recognized as one of the world’s leading metal roofing manufacturers. Todd is currently Vice President of the MRA (Metal Roofing Association) and a Past Chair of MCA (Metal Construction Association). Through his website, he strives to raise the bar on standards and practices to provide property owners with the best possible products for successful roofing projects.

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