Details


Guerrero with wife Rosario, daughter Natalia and son Benjamin II

What is your position within your company?
I am president of Ben's Roofing Inc., Oakland, Calif.

What is the most unusual roofing project you've performed?
We installed a self-adhered SBS polymer-modified bitumen roof system on an infant intensive care unit before self-adhered roof systems became popular.

How did you get involved in the roofing industry?
My father has been involved in the roofing industry since 1976, so I was born into it. Roofing is in my blood!

What was your first roofing experience?
During a summer in high school, my father had me working on a crew. After my first day, I came home with blisters on my hands from shoveling gravel. It was the best night of sleep ever!

What is your roofing industry involvement?
I am a graduate of NRCA's Future Executives Institute, Class 4. It was one of the best professional experiences of my life and something anyone serious about roofing should do.

What is your favorite animal?
I don't really have one, but I enjoy riding horses whenever possible.

What song do you find yourself listening to over and over?
I have been listening to an old Mexican song called "El Señor De Las Canas," which translates to the man with the gray hair. It's a song about a son who has lost his father. My father lost his father a few years ago, and it has affected him greatly. My mother also lost her father when I was 8 years old. The song is stuck in my head because though death is inevitable, I am making a concerted effort to spend time with my parents as much as I can.

People would be surprise to know …
I ride all-terrain vehicles to relax.

Who is your hero?
My hero is and always will be my father.

What is your favorite roofing material to work with?
I enjoy working with single-ply products, but my favorite is a built-up roof system. There is something about melting asphalt that gets my blood flowing.

What is your favorite food?
A dish my mother makes called enchiladas potosinas

Urban or rural?
Definitely rural—I enjoy nature.

What three words best describe you?
Responsible, devoted and genuine

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
Getting used to wearing multiple hats—it's a weekly struggle.

What is your biggest pet peeve?
When a person doesn't acknowledge a request to do something or let me know when a task has been completed

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a two-sport athlete. I wanted to play basketball in the NBA and baseball in the Major Leagues.

What is your favorite vacation?
My favorite destination is Nuevo Vallarta. I proposed to my wife there, and every time we tell our kids we are going, their level of excitement is through the roof.

More From This Issue

  • Uniting with universities

    For several years, roofing contractors have struggled with how to recruit workers. Competition is fierce, and the roofing industry's negative image among construction industry job seekers only adds to the problem. To help attract college graduates to the industry, The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress has partnered with construction management schools to bring roofing curricula into college classrooms, as well as expose students to opportunities in the roofing industry.

  • The beauty of a project

    The Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, Wash., is a research center and community of environmental scientists, analysts, engineers and policymakers who develop creative and sustainable solutions to restore and protect urban waterways. When the center's property management company struggled with the upkeep of the facility's two vegetative roof systems, it called upon the experts at Nations Roof, Seattle, for help, and a team of female roofing professionals remediated the roofs.

  • Shattering the ceiling

    There is an increasing number of women taking advantage of the roofing industry's leadership opportunities. This feature focuses on five female roofing professionals leading the way: Monica Cameron, vice president of Diamond Roofing, Manhattan, Kan.; Jennifer Ford-Smith, director of marketing and single ply for Johns Manville, Denver; Shelley Metzler, president of Interstate Roofing, Portland, Ore.; Lindy Ryan, senior vice president of service and leadership development for Tecta America Corp., Rosemont, Ill.; and Jayne Williams, chief financial officer and safety director for KPost Company, Dallas.

;