GAF Wins 2026 FORTIFIED Pioneer Award for Resilient Roofing Leadership

IBHS honors manufacturer for training more than 1,100 roofing professionals and expanding access to FORTIFIED Roof standards.

award presentation — FORTIFIED / Roofing Contractor

GAF has received a 2026 FORTIFIED Pioneer Award from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, recognizing the roofing manufacturer’s efforts to expand contractor training and access to resilient roofing practices nationwide.

The Pioneer Award highlights GAF's commitment to increasing industry education around resilient roofing practices and its first-of-its-kind alliance with IBHS. Through the collaboration, GAF has helped train over 1,100 roofing professionals across more than 600 companies nationwide. In 2025, approximately one-third of newly designated FORTIFIED™ homes were built using GAF shingles, reflecting the growing role GAF-trained contractors and products play in advancing resilient construction.

“GAF's commitment to growing the network of qualified FORTIFIED roofing professionals has played an important role in making resilient construction more accessible to homeowners,” said Fred Malik, Managing Director of the FORTIFIED Program at IBHS. “By investing in contractor education and training, GAF is helping strengthen communities and advance the adoption of roofing practices that have been proven to improve home resilience.”

Through GAF's Center for the Advancement of Roofing Excellence (CARE) program, GAF delivers specialized training to help GAF Master Elite contractors meet the requirements to become FORTIFIED Certified Roofing Contractors. This equips contractors with the skills to install roofing systems designed to meet IBHS's beyond-code standards for resilience to help homeowners achieve greater protection against severe weather.

"We're honored to receive this recognition and proud of the impact our collaboration has had on advancing resilient roofing across the industry," said Mike Thomas, Director of External Learning & Development, Storm Restoration at GAF. “By bringing together contractors and instructors from GAF’s CARE team, we've been able to expand access to education, raise the bar for installation quality, and help more homeowners safeguard their homes with confidence.”

In addition to GAF's recognition, numerous GAF-certified contractors were honored with FORTIFIED Volume Awards and FORTIFIED Social Media Awards, recognizing their contributions to increasing homeowner awareness of resilient construction and delivering FORTIFIED-designated roofs in communities across the country. GAF-certified contractors recognized include:

GAF-Certified FORTIFIED Volume Award Recipients

GAF-Certified FORTIFIED Social Media Award Winners

These recognitions come as the FORTIFIED program continues to gain momentum across the United States, recently surpassing 100,000 designated homes, reflecting growing demand for science-backed construction practices that help homes better withstand hurricanes, high winds, hail, and severe storms.