The past, present and future of IFD

By Emma Peterson. 

For more than 70 years, IFD has connected roofers across borders and they’re not stopping any time soon. 

In 1952, the International Federation of the Roofing Trade (IFD) was founded. Since then, both the industry it supports, and the organisation have grown greatly. To learn more about how they have grown together, we sat down with Henrik Mosegaard-Johansen for a short interview. 

Henrik is one of VELUX’s international key account directors and has been engaged with IFD for over 15 years now. Currently, he is a member of the board with responsibilities specifically focused on marketing and building partnerships. Looking back at the founding of IFD, his perspective was that it was somewhat inevitable. He shared, “If IFD [wasn't founded in 1952] someone would have established it in the ensuing years, simply because we need it to build key bridges between people and countries as well as between businesses and associations.”   

When we asked him about how IFD builds these bridges, he gave us insight into the relationship between VELUX and IFD, sharing, “VELUX and other companies have employees like me who invest time and effort into the organisation. They also support IFD by investing money into their initiatives.” In return, those initiatives help individual companies by bettering the industry. As Henrik put it, “We have a common task here – we need to create energy in the industry to attract new people and future-proof our businesses. That’s what a lot of IFD initiatives are focused on.”   

Looking to the future, Henrik sees these initiatives and this symbiotic relationship between individual companies and IFD continuing. He shared, “Our umbrella goal is always to find ways for IFD to add more value to the community, to the industry and to our associations.”