Kelly B. Van Winkle - A Change in Leadership for the Roofing Alliance

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Kelly B. Van Winkle is continuing a legacy of giving back to the roofing industry and the community at large.  

In Season 3, Episode 45 of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi J. Ellsworth visits with Kelly Van Winkle of King of Texas Roofing Company LP. Kelly is the first woman vice president of the Roofing Alliance and has a distinguished career in roofing, including serving on the board and executive team of the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA). A leader within her family-owned roofing business, Kelly has been committed to furthering the professionalism of the roofing industry through NCRA’s ProCertification, recruitment and many other industry initiatives.  

Kelly is a third-generation owner of her family roofing company. Her grandfather was the original owner and started roofing right out of high school in the middle of the great depression. By the 1960’s the family business became primarily concerned with commercial roofing and since then has built a well-known brand in Texas. 

“I joined the company in 2011 and co-led the company with my father for many years and [I have been] the president since 2019,” said Kelly. 

Heidi and Kelly started the conversation by talking about Kelly’s involvement with the Roofing Alliance, which her father helped found 25 years ago. Kelly remembers attending a lot of the Roofing Alliance events with her parents and feels deeply connected to the many ways the Alliance gives back:

“One of the things that brought me a great fondness for the Alliance is a program that the Alliance has, it's called Helping Our Own. We had an employee a few years ago who had a wife that needed some experimental medical treatment, and she was able to receive the experimental medical treatment because of the Alliance funds from this helping our own program. She survived and she would not have survived had it not been for the Alliance and that is a true story I can tell you today. And so forevermore, I've been grateful to the Alliance.” 

The Roofing Alliance also gives back to the community through adopting Ronald McDonald houses and, so far, members have collectively adopted 165 homes. 

Currently, the Alliance is celebrating its 25-year anniversary. With Kelly stepping in as the first female vice president, and her father being one of the founding members of the Alliance, the story of her family and the Roofing Alliance has truly come full circle.  

“It is exciting. I'm very honored to have been asked and there's so many wonderful female contractors that are in the Alliance now and everyone is so generous as a group,” said Kelly. “I really feel like this is going to be a good year ahead and the next 25 years for the Alliance are going to be just as good, if not better, than the first 25.” 

Listen to the entire podcast to hear more from Kelly and some new initiatives from the Roofing Alliance.