Advancing Women in Roofing

Under sunny blue skies, GAF hometown workers from Minneapolis joined over 4,000 Habitat for Humanity volunteers to donate their time and energy to the 2024 Carter Work Project in East St. Paul, Minnesota.The landmark 40th anniversary of the Carter Work Project celebrated former President Carter's 100th birthday. It also heralded the completion of 30 new all-electric homes in The Heights—the largest affordable housing development yet for Twin Cities Habitat—and marked the first installation of GAF Timberline Solar™ Energy Shingles.Supporting the Carter Work Project's PurposeGAF and the Habitat Carter Work Project share a common mission—to protect what matters most and bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Safe, secure, affordable housing is one of the surest routes to building resilient communities.Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter were early champions of affordable housing. In 1984, they partnered with Habitat for Humanity to lead an annual week-long housing build. The momentum grew, and now, four decades later, over 100,000 Habitat volunteers have helped construct over 4,400 affordable homes for families in need.Each year, GAF volunteers travel from around the country for the Carter Work Project. GAF Community Matters also donates roofing materials, training, and installation expertise. Since 2011, GAF and its national network of certified contractors have supported roofing installation on over 3,800 roofing systems in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, impacting more than 15,500 individuals.Building Resilience in MinnesotaThis year was particularly special thanks to first time solar shingle installation at a Carter Work Project. Even more, the project's location was in a GAF hometown and local GAF employees were on-site to volunteer.Benefitting Homeowners by Going Solar"We're donating 40 roofing systems and 40 solar energy systems from GAF and GAF Energy," says Jake Pream, a territory manager for GAF Energy in Minnesota.In addition to energy production, the beauty of the GAF Timberline Solar™ Energy Shingle is its simplicity. The nailable shingles are "just like your typical Timberline HDZ® Shingles," says Fan Ulacia, Director of Product Deployment Applications for GAF Energy and one of the minds behind the solar shingle design. "They're simple enough to install with a nail gun, but they produce energy." For Ulacia, improving access to solar energy, giving back to the community, and helping homeowners gain energy independence make GAF Energy a great fit for the GAF Habitat partnership."The solar-powered roofing system will make these homes more resilient, generate energy, and be a long-term benefit to Habitat homeowners by helping to offset their energy costs," adds Jeff Terry, vice president of corporate social responsibility and sustainability at GAF, who has volunteered at the Carter Work Project for 26 years.Helping a GAF HometownThe Twin Cities Habitat build is also special because it means the Carter Work Project takes place in a GAF hometown. As Pream, a St. Paul native, puts it, "I have friends and family quite literally a few houses down."The Minneapolis GAF manufacturing facility opened in 1935, and "it's something we're really proud of," says Austin Owens, a local GAF technical manager. Over the years, "we've made improvements to equipment and operations and made changes to help the environment and sustainability. We try to help the community as much as possible."Like many GAF volunteers at the Carter Work Project site, Joey Och, a GAF plant process engineer, grew up in the area. "Affordable housing is something Minneapolis and St. Paul have been pushing for," says Och, "so it's nice to be out here and help. Affordable housing brings more people into the community."With GAF donating roofing and solar energy systems for this year's project, safe and affordable homeownership, with reduced energy bills, will be accessible to more people.This housing security helps strengthen the community. The area may experience severe weather and its share of hardship, but "there's a lot of resiliency in this community," says Owens.Carrying On the Carter Work Project in 2024 and BeyondFor many reasons, the Carter Work Project inspires repeat volunteers. "Community does matter," says annual participant and GAF CARE Learning and Development Instructor Michael Humenik. "It's just fun to volunteer. I look forward to coming out every year."Habitat homeowners who return each year to volunteer are the true testament to the transformational power of access to safe, affordable housing. LeAndra Estes brought her hard work and a big smile to the week-long Twin Cities build. Estes is an annual volunteer for the program that changed her life. "I need and I want to give back to Habitat for Humanity, to the affiliates and partners, and to the future homeowners to come," she notes.Estes puts into words the value of affordable housing and how the benefits ripple far beyond the home. "When you have a home, you don't just have that home and your family. Your community also becomes your family," she explains.Although former President Carter has retired his tool belt after decades of humanitarian service, he surely must have been proud to see his legacy continue to evolve, especially with the revolutionary new solar shingle that supports homeowners' financial independence.Ready to get involved? Explore the Habitat for Humanity GAF Contractor Program and change lives for the better, starting today.

As part of its effort to build resilient communities, GAF provides students across the country with opportunities to gain work experience and hands-on training. The GAF co-op program offers participants autonomy and leadership in project management, engineering design, budgeting, project installation, and more.Over the years, the GAF co-op recruiting program has helped students advance academically, grow professionally, and earn competitively while working full time with North America's largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer.How the GAF Co-Op Program WorksThe program gives students high-impact, hands-on experience in the manufacturing sector. They perform meaningful work alongside supportive GAF mentors and senior leadership while earning a competitive wage. Participants can also receive credits from their university, which they can apply to their coursework.Differences between a Co-op and an InternshipInternships and co-ops have a few notable differences. At GAF, the main difference is the length of time. Internships at GAF usually last 10 weeks, but the co-op program is six months. While internship programs often allow students to stay enrolled in school and complete coursework as they gain professional training, co-op participants must take a semester off to gain full-time work experience.Not all companies pay internship participants for their work. However, at GAF, both interns and co-op students are paid competitive hourly wages. GAF also offers financial relocation assistance for qualifying co-op program candidates.Finally, participants in the GAF programs are there to learn real skills that will help them advance their future careers. GAF interns and co-op students are given the same responsibilities, and chances to collaborate on major projects, as full-time employees.Recent GAF Co-Op Success StoriesMin U, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Maryland, says he "fell in love with manufacturing" thanks to his placement on an engineering project. The experience gave him a firsthand account of the role engineering plays in manufacturing safety, profit, and operations. This ultimately led him to shift his career goals from construction management to manufacturing engineering.When Dante Stellar, an industrial engineering student at Virginia Tech, met GAF representatives at a career fair, he says he didn't expect to become a self-proclaimed "nerd for shingles" and develop a passion for manufacturing. However, that's exactly what happened. And that newfound passion paid off when Dante won Student of the Year from Virginia Tech's Cooperative Education and Internship Program. Dante notes he's now eager to return to GAF and aspires to become a manufacturing leader in the world of shingles.Michael Hesseltine, an electrical engineering student at Texas A&M University, chanced upon a GAF co-op recruiting listing online. After a series of interviews, he landed a project engineering co-op in Ennis, Texas. Working with the Ennis team on major projects solidified his manufacturing engineer career goals.Co-Op Students Complete Meaningful WorkStudents in the GAF co-op program are involved in meaningful projects and get to see their work's impact on day-to-day operations.During his time in Ennis, Michael designed a baler that compacts fiberglass scrap, reducing site disposal trips and costs. He also oversaw renovations of the site's maintenance mechanical break room from start to finish. He notes that his favorite contribution was helping design the electrical system for a dewatering press.In Baltimore, Min's core project was ensuring site compliance with state regulations for discharging stormwater runoff. Min managed all the project contractors and budget with his manager's and mentor's support. Throughout his time there, Min was exposed to Lean methodologies, 5S, risk mitigation, insurance compliance, cost control, and procedure standardization. He gained an overall understanding of manufacturing equipment and business.At the Tampa plant, Dante worked on a rock pad storage expansion project and installed a starwheel machine guarding the manufacturing line, among other important projects. According to Dante, the defining moment of his co-op experience was his granule silo refurbishment project, which involved replacing eight silos, including floor plates and support beams.Dante explains the trust and opportunities his mentors provided were key to his success. "At GAF, I was given the chance to interact with contractors, and immerse myself in the plant, which accelerated my learning," he says.Co-Op Students Build Professional RelationshipsThrough "lunch and learn" sessions, leadership speaker series, meetings with senior leadership, and mentorship, co-op students build long-term professional relationships.Dante was given the chance to showcase the coordination and safety efforts involved in his granule silo project to the GAF executive leadership team in Parsippany, New Jersey.For Min, getting the right feedback to grow meant having the right relationships. He notes the mentorship from his manager Alex Smith and engineering manager Mike Kloda was key to his progression. As advice to future co-op participants, he explains that "everyone is here to help... but it's up to you to drive that forward."Meanwhile, the autonomy and leadership opportunities program leaders gave Michael allowed him to grow technically and professionally. "I was often the go-to person for projects, managing contractors and ensuring everything was on track," he says.Joining an Industry Filled with OpportunityThe GAF co-op program helped Min, Michael, and Dante start and solidify their careers in manufacturing engineering. Following their experience, each student was excited and motivated by the autonomy, responsibility, and growth opportunities they were given. In fact, Min has since accepted a full-time role as a project engineer at the GAF plant in Baltimore. His expected start date is July 7, 2025.GAF is committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the organization. It believes a talented and diverse organization can drive innovation, growth, and transformation more effectively. To further bolster inclusivity, GAF offers academic and merit scholarships, partners with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to recruit from the nation's most diverse talent at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions, and reaches out to candidates at career fairs nationwide.Bright and motivated minds who want to explore manufacturing have plenty of opportunities. From shingles to solar to environmental impact, GAF offers many exciting career paths.Are you ready to do work that matters and be empowered to explore a leadership role? Discover the co-ops, internships, and job opportunities available at GAF.

At GAF, we're serious about our sustainability promise: to protect what matters most, including our people, our communities, and our planet. We recently published 21 new GAF product-specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as one way we're delivering on that promise.EPDs are critical to improving green building solutions. These standardized and third-party-verified documents outline the environmental impacts associated with a building product's life cycle—from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal or reuse. Through the EPD creation process, we have been advancing on our sustainability goals, demonstrating our commitment to the environment and our customers, and increasing product sustainability in the roofing industry.Here's a look at our most recent progress and what's expected to come.GAF Sustainability GoalsThe 21 new EPDs are an exciting milestone toward our GAF 2030 Planet Goals, which have four focus areas: increase product transparency, reduce carbon emissions, drive circularity in the roofing sector, and divert operational waste. By 2030, we plan to publish EPDs for our entire commercial and residential core product portfolio. As we've scaled the GAF EPD creation process, through extensive life cycle assessments across our portfolio, we better understand the environmental impact of each stage in our products' life cycles. This opens up internal and external sustainability opportunities as we learn from, and analyze, our life cycle assessment results.Evolving to Product-Specific Environmental Product DeclarationsRoofing has long relied on industry-wide EPDs created from aggregate product data. As a result, our architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community members have had fewer opportunities to make informed sustainability choices around roofing materials.According to several sources, the built environment accounts for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions worldwide. Collectively, we as a roofing industry could help reduce this number by increasing our transparency documentation. With more product-specific Environmental Product Declarations, companies and customers can make more informed product sustainability decisions.And although GAF currently has the highest overall number of transparency documents for roofing materials in the industry, we know we also have an opportunity to grow.GAF Uses Life Cycle Assessments to ImproveWe review product Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) to understand the environmental impact of each product's production stages, from raw material extraction to end-of-life. Then, we can use that information to identify areas of improvement and make informed decisions to reduce a product's environmental impact, resulting in a reduction in embodied carbon. The knowledge we gain from our LCAs creates the potential for product improvements and new innovations to help further our 2030 Planet Goals.Looking Toward 2030 and BeyondWe're working hard to continue leading the industry with transparency documentation such as EPDs, Health Product Declarations, and Declare Labels. But we're not stopping there.We're fostering collaboration in our broader building, construction, and design space to help reduce the built environment's total carbon emissions. At GAF, sustainability isn't checking a box. We believe in and champion protecting our homes and our planet. By changing how we do business, we hope to improve how builders can build and, ultimately, how our world lives.Empowering the AEC CommunityTransparency and product sustainability documentation help us all build a better world. We're committed to empowering designers, builders, architects, and engineers by providing information about the lifecycle and environmental impact of GAF products whenever possible.Explore some of our most recent EPDs below.Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ Barrier. Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ HD and HD Barrier Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ HD Plus Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ NH Barrier Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ NH HD Plus Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ NH HD Polyiso Cover BoardEnergyGuard™ NH Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ NH Ultra Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ NH Ultra Tapered Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ Polyiso InsulationEnergyGuard™ Ultra Polyiso InsulationUltra HD Composite InsulationTPO Single-Ply MembraneEverGuard® TPO Extreme Fleece-backEverGuard® TPO ExtremeEverGuard® TPOEverGuard® TPO Fleece-backEverGuard® SA TPO Self-Adhered Roof MembranePVCEverGuard® PVCEverGuard® PVC Fleece-back Roof CoatingsHydroStop® System GAF Acrylic Top CoatLooking to explore more sustainable design solutions? You can learn how GAF is investing in our people, our planet, and progress for a more sustainable future, here.