The feeling was hard to describe, but undeniable — a sudden lightness across the shoulder blades, as if a burden decades in the making had just lifted. 

The Honorable Reid Ribble sunk into his chair with his favorite homebrewed coffee in hand, having just returned from a cross-country, redeye flight from his final official trip as CEO of the National Roofing Contractors Association.

It was 2022, and he delivered his final speech as NRCA chief before retirement — and the pressure, worry and angst he carried for several months of tenure wilted away.

“I sat down, and it was immediate … something in my life had changed,” Ribble recalled. “It was the lack of stress, all the burden you had about your employees and that they’re cared for, and the thousands of members and the millions of workers we have in the industry, all of that stress just disappeared.”

Though he’s still called on to deliver an inspiring talk or particular message for select groups in the roofing space, Ribble said he’s rather enjoying a retirement punctuated with trips with his wife DeaNa and centered around seven grandsons.

He was willing to give up that feeling of calm to return to roofing when the opportunity to speak at the International Roofing Expo in San Antonio arose. The last time he addressed the industry as a whole, also in 2022, he captivated the audience with a lifetime of stories ranging from coaching championship girl’s volleyball to navigating the hallways of Capitol Hill as a three-term congressman from Wisconsin.

The recap of an illustrious 40-year career based largely around his success as a roofing contractor was not only appropriate on the eve of his retirement, but the inspiring message came at a time of significant change in the industry as the COVID-19 rebound was underway. 

Ribble said he wants to seize this potentially transformative moment again, but discuss something different: the state of the American dream. Though it appeals to industries beyond just roofing, he said how the American dream is understood and applied could have a lot to do with the roofing industry’s success — or failure — over the long haul.

Here’s more from our exclusive conversation.

RC: Reid, how are you keeping busy in retirement?

RR: I serve on a few corporate boards and a little consulting, and that keeps my business mind engaged. My wife DeaNa and I spend a lot of time with the family and travel to places that I was able to see as a member of Congress but she has not been to. And we try to do those things we put off while I was working full-time.

RC: Welcome back to the roofing industry. It didn’t take too long to get you back to the IRE stage. 

RR: They say you can really never get away from [roofing]. It was a bit of a surprise, originally, they asked about potential speakers for IRE and I gave them a list of suitable candidates, and then they came back and were wondering if I would come back to the stage. 

RC: Anyone there in 2022 remembers your keynote address in New Orleans. It was informative, fiery and inspirational. Will this speech be different? 

RR: This speech will be totally different. There will be a lot of stories intertwined with what I’m talking about, because that’s one effective way of making people remember key points. However, it’s a totally different speech. It’s one of the reasons I was willing to come and do this.

RC: You’re planning to talk about the American dream. How did you settle on that topic?

RR: This happens a lot when we go through the political cycles we just went through as a country, where politicians have to convince you how bad things are in order to get you to vote for them to bring about a change. [IRE organizers] asked me to answer a question. There are a lot of pundits out there stating that the American dream is dead, and I thought that would be an interesting question to answer. Is it dead? Has it ever died or is it still going?

RC: So, what is the state of the American dream in 2025? 

RR: I don’t want to blow the bubble, but I think the speech will be inspirational. People will feel good about the country that they live in, the work that they do and will be there for their children.

RC: What do you hope roofing contractors get from attending the keynote?

RR: If they’ve bought into this idea that the American dream is dead, I want to talk about what the dream looks like in the modern world. But also, I’ll take a walk down memory lane and talk about the power of nostalgia. I think we all have a tendency to look back on our youth and say how great it was when we were kids. And of course, it was great, somebody else was paying the bills and we didn’t have the responsibility. My parents lived their version of the American dream, and I’ve lived my version of the American dream and my children are living their version of the American dream, and that immigrant seeking a new opportunity in the United States is looking for his or her version of the American dream.

The myth that the American dream is gone is based on some circumstances that aren’t real, or new. Every generation has discovered in the U.S. that the American people are industrious, resourceful, imaginative, and they’re problem solvers. 

RC: The IRE was last in San Antonio in 2013, what are you looking forward to?

RR: Texas is a big draw and San Antonio has always been good for the roofing industry. It’s a great city to go to, lots of history, great restaurants, lots of things to do and as well as attending a really good show. People are making money right now and I would expect a record crowd with top-notch educational experiences.

RC: You spent 30 years in roofing, how would you like to be a roofing entrepreneur in today’s marketplace?

RR: It’s not even the same business now. What we do as roofing company owners is pretty much the same but a lot of the difference today is that a lot of work is subcontracted and they’re delivering that roofing solution a lot differently. Today, almost all the elements of roofing are being subcontracted and roofing companies are more marketing and sales organizations than ever before. I would love it, it’s a much easier operating model for sure.

RC: What worries you about the roofing industry’s future, if anything?

RR: I’m very optimistic about the roofing industry’s future. I look back today and know I spent way too much time and too many hours worrying about things that never happened. If I have any advice for anyone that’s young and in the industry, it’s stop worrying. You worry about things and they don’t happen, and you can relieve a lot of the stress and anxiety if you just change how you think about life.