Western Roofing Expo Video Series

Ken Kelly’s “Retirement” from Roofing

Ken Kelly doesn’t mind leaving the stress of day-to-day operations of a roofing enterprise behind as an early retiree. But let’s be honest, tee times and off-shore fishing just aren’t his speed. After taking some well-earned time off after a 30-year roofing career that established Kelly Roofing as one of Florida’s premier contractors to travel, Kelly is back in roofing. Not installing, but rather consulting, and teaching other roofing contractors what he wished he knew earlier on in his journey.

“I’m helping people work on the business side of the business,” Kelly said while stopping by the RC booth at the 2024 Western Roofing Expo in Las Vegas. “I’m more about team building, operational excellence, and everything from how you go from scratch to leap over the walls of growth and then sustain it at a plateau level.”

Kelly said he’s also drawing from his personal experience of acquiring roofing companies, and working with private equity to prepare for sale.

“There’s a lot of games played in private equity, and it’s my job to preserve the roofing contractor’s value,” he explained. “I know roofing … and I can help companies position themselves for a sale, and not let private equity take advantage of them.”

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Art Aisner is Editor-in-Chief of Roofing Contractor and Roofing Supply Pro. He spent the bulk of his career as a multi-media journalist for newspapers and television stations before joining the RC team in 2015. He is the driving force behind the publication’s content development, editorial strategy and other initiatives that serve growing audiences in the roofing space.