Two wins, one incredible team

By Emma Peterson. 

Raincoat Roofing’s Sarah Sutton-Shouse reflects on the team’s double win at IRE 2025.  

At last year’s International Roofing Expo (IRE), Raincoat Roofing made history when two of their team members took home some of the biggest awards of the show – MVP Best of the Best and National Women in Roofing (NWIR) Rising Star awards. To learn more about the trailblazing professionals that earned these recognitions, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Sarah Sutton-Shouse, the director of service operations at Raincoat, for an episode of Roofing Road Trips®. 

NWIR Rising Star 

Sarah herself was awarded the title of NWIR Rising Star, a win that came as a total shock. She explained, “I didn't even know that I had been nominated until I attended National Women in Roofing Day...I was absolutely honored to be nominated, and I was even more stunned when I won.”  

While Sarah might have been surprised, the award was more than well deserved. She has been an instrumental part in bringing together the Chicago NWIR council. She shared, “I really have to give credit to my board. I truly believe you're only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and I have a really incredible board. The Chicago NWIR council really was a labor of love from everyone.”  

From organizing joint events with local contractor associations like the Chicago Roofing Contractors Association (CRCA) to finding ways to reach out to contractors even beyond Chicago in areas like Northwest Indiana and Southern Wisconsin, there were a lot of hurdles for the board to overcome. But Sarah says that it was all worth it. She explained, “We have seen so much progress, and we've seen so much positivity come out of it...Winning this award was really vindicating of all the hard work my board has put into this. It was like, everything that we've put in is being returned. And it felt very good to celebrate that with my team, friends and peers.” 

MVP Best of the Best 

And if that wasn’t enough excitement for the Raincoat team, their production superintendent, Angel Arroyo, took home the coveted MVP award. This award is presented by the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) Roofing Alliance and recognizes outstanding roofing professionals “who demonstrate exceptional performance, leadership and community involvement.” 

The win was more than well-deserved, as Angel has more than four decades of experience serving the industry. Sarah was able to be a part of the nomination process, which she said was incredible being able to nominate Angel. She shared, “For the nomination process, we had to talk to his family, to past people he's worked with and to the current people he's working with. And I almost had to pick and choose what we were going to submit because everybody had such incredible things to say about him. It was awesome to get the opportunity to hear all the incredible things his friends and peers had to say about him.” 

Angel himself couldn’t believe the win, sharing, “I was not expecting to win. I thought for sure that one of the other two amazing nominees won. It's a wonderful feeling. I am beyond honored and grateful. This is a win not just for me but for our team, for Raincoat.” 

Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording to hear more about Sarah, Angel and Raincoat Roofing.