TAMPA, Fla. – North American Roofing Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest roofing companies, announced the appointment of Jim O’Brien as director of purchasing and logistics. 

O’Brien joins North American Roofing with over fifteen years of experience leading projects across 77 countries throughout North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. He is a former active duty U.S. Marine.

Formerly, O’Brien worked for the US Foreign Commercial Service and a contractor in the Departments of Defense and State. He was the director of purchasing and logistics for Blackwater Worldwide and the senior director of global supply chains for Artemis Global, Inc. He has served on numerous advisory committees, including the Economic Community of West African States’ Borderless Alliance, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Afghan Reconstruction & Development Working Group, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Iraq & Afghanistan Working Group, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Counter-Piracy Working Group, and the World Bank’s World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group.

In 2004, USA Today named O'Brien one of America’s “Best and Brightest Minds” for having authored one of the most successful counterterrorism strategies ever conducted in the Western Hemisphere. From 2012-16, O'Brien created, implemented, and managed the only effective loss mitigation strategy for supply deliveries through the Middle East, North Africa, Central and Southwest Asia that yielded zero loss. In addition, O'Brien has published three academic journal articles on the infiltration of terror group supply chains, and more than two dozen presentations on effective global supply chain integration within multilateral trade organizations in emerging markets.     

“While we approach the next phase of our company’s journey with the opening of our new headquarters in Tampa, Florida, we are thrilled to have Jim on our management team. His breadth of experience has already made a notable difference in our day-to-day operations. Since his arrival, Jim has improved pricing options for our valued customers by improving our supply chain, purchasing, and delivery methods. As Jim continues to streamline our fleet operations and purchasing, he will work with COO Kelly Wade and me to expand our capabilities, thereby increasing our ESOP stock value and the sustainable growth of our company,” said North American Roofing President and CEO Brian Verble.  

 “As our team works to reduce transportation costs and increase delivery efficiencies, the cost-savings systems our team generates will produce a more competitive pricing environment for our national customers,” said O’Brien. “As this work continues, my excitement about joining the North American Roofing team continues to grow.” 

For more information, visit www.naroofing.com.