By Jesse Sanchez. 

Juggling motherhood, frequent moves and a nontraditional path, Lillianne Dunstall never let obstacles stand in the way of her rise through the ranks at Tremco. 

For Lillianne Dunstall, the journey to executive leadership didn’t start with a business degree. It started with an opportunity and one man who treated her as an equal. “In 2002, I was hired into the roofing industry by Tremco and that’s really where my career started taking off,” Lillianne recalled during this episode of the Roofing Road Trips® podcast. “I was lucky enough to be hired by the company’s VP of Canada, who was one of the two men who had a huge impact on my career.” 

The breakthrough came when that VP trusted her with real responsibility. She shared, “He treated me as an equal. The more things I took off of his plate, the more he gave me responsibility and authority.” That moment changed her outlook. “That was the first time I actually considered that I could go to more than lower level or mid management.” 

When he left the company, Lillianne became the go-to contact for senior leaders in her area. That exposure and one particular crisis vaulted her to the next level. She explained, “There was an inventory shortage. It was three weeks before the end of the year. We were shy of making our numbers.” 

She wasn’t going to let a product shortage derail the company’s year-end goals. With just three weeks left to close the gap, she sprang into action. “I started wheeling and dealing,” she recalled. “‘So, if I sent you product from Montreal to New Jersey, can Cleveland send me product A? And if I get an extra shift on in Toronto, can Los Angeles do this?’” Working across departments and time zones, she coordinated a complex, high-stakes shuffle of materials and labor to keep the numbers on track. 

Her leadership under pressure didn’t just solve the problem; it sent a message. She noted, “By the time we were done, we made our numbers.” 

That resourcefulness caught the attention of top leadership. “Probably about eight or nine months later, I received a call. It was the new president,” she shared. “He said to me, ‘I like what you’re doing with Canada and I want you to become the director of North American Business Operations.’” 

It was a turning point. The promotion validated not just her efforts during the crisis, but the years she’d spent mastering every part of the business. It proved she didn’t need a traditional background to earn a seat at the leadership table, just the grit to take charge when it counted. 

Spoiler alert: she took the job. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how Lillianne leveraged grit and relationships to rise in the roofing industry!

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn about Lillianne Dunstall’s journey into the roofing industry.  

Everyone’s journey into the roofing industry is unique. In this Roofing Road Trips® episode, Heidi J. Ellsworth visits with Lillianne Dunstall, former chair of Canada National Women in Roofing (NWIR) and the author of The Unlikely VP, about her journey into the roofing world. 

Lillianne’s career started right after high school as a bell operator. She explained, “I was the person that said, ‘Hello, operator, can I help you?’ Those days there was no 911 so the first person that someone would call in an emergency was zero, so answering those calls certainly honed a lot of my skills.” It wasn’t until 15-20 years later that Lillianne would get her first job in the roofing industry at Tremco’s Canadian division.  

That job was the turning point for Lillianne’s career and she began to thrive in roofing. She shared, “I was lucky enough to be hired by the vice president of Canada, who treated me as an equal, and I started taking things off of his plate. The more things I took off of his plate, the more he gave me responsibility and authority. So, by the time we got the division running, he was managing the sales side, I was running the business operations piece, and we were true partners.” 

From there, Lillianne began to rise through the company. But that journey wasn’t without hiccups or challenges. She spoke about this in her book, sharing, “I talk about this in chapter five and it's called climbing the corporate ladder while dodging LEGOs and life's curve balls. And I had to do both. I certainly had a lot of pivot points. I think like most people, life is not linear. Life will throw you either a gift or a punch in the teeth. And either way, you have to either pivot, re-strategize or re-calibrate.” 

However, whether it was challenges as a career woman raising children or making moves to new jobs when her husband’s work took them to a new city, Lillianne pivoted, re-strategized and continued to rise. When the VP that first hired her left the company, she took on a leading role as the go-to person. She explained, “I became the go-to person right when there was an inventory shortage and we weren’t going to make our numbers. So I was on daily calls with the senior management team in Cleveland, all of the manufacturing, marketing and distribution people. And I started wheeling and dealing, saying, ‘So if I sent you product from Montreal to New Jersey, can Cleveland send me product A?’ And by the time we were done, we made our numbers.” Her ability to step up and adapt in that moment got Lillianne recognized. And a few months later she was getting a call from the new president of the company, asking her to accept the position of director of North American business operations. 

Listen to the whole conversation to learn more about Lillianne’s journey into roofing.