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HARD WORK & CRAFTSMANSHIP Rooftops And Sand Bars PROFILE: Daniel Peña D anny Peña didn't start in the roofing business. He was raised in the roofing business as a third genera- tion roofer, in a family business that includes his grandfather, his father, and his uncle. Peña explains, "Originally, the family goes back to construction compa- nies in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. They came to the United States in the late '70s and began importing and manufacturing clay roofing tiles. We got into the roofing service side because most companies didn't know how to do it properly. Florida beach kid, he continues, "I can't tell you the first time I was on a roof because my mom would probably kill my dad! At the age of 11, I was teaching drivers at the company how to operate the dump trucks." Peña jumped in the trucks when no one was around and practiced driving them. He thought his secret was safe until one day his dad called him in and asked him to show some new hires how to run the trucks, saying, "You don't think I've seen you running around in the trucks?" Hurricane Andrew To 9/11 Everything changed dramatically in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew hit his home town. "I was 12 years old when we lost our home in the hurricane. I watched our roof fly away from right above me. I ran to my room, but it had no roof, so I made my way downstairs." He finally got to the bathroom to find his parents crying, thinking that he was lost. They grabbed him and held on through the worst of the storm. He describes the after- math: "We had a super extended summer since there was no school, so I went to work with the crews to rebuild our home. Then my dad bought the home next door 78 CoatingsPro J July 2012 for my grandparents, and I helped with that one, too." Peña received extensive training in general construction and, of course, roofing, while helping to rebuild his community. Peña put himself through college " With the easy laugh of a South with roofing at the University of Indiana. He says, "I had a minor in marketing, but I didn't finish. I hated the winters up there; they were terrible for a Miami-based kid. I remember waking up with ice on the inside of the dorm windows – the inside! So I went back home and rode the Internet wave with a music-streaming start-up. The goal of Peña's dot.com start- " up was to build it, go into an IPO, and then sell it, and return to school. Peña recalls, "I traveled quite a bit for business. Then I moved to San Francisco to get into the heart of the dot.com industry." Unfortunately, this was right when the dot.com bubble burst. He worked for three different companies—one job lasted seven days before they terminated the department. So Peña traveled to New York in 2001 where he had friends still in the Internet industry who told him, "We've got an empty desk, we're not gonna pay you, and it's up to you to make your own job. " Then 9/11 occurred, and New York lost interest in dot.coms, so Peña returned to Miami and the roofing industry until he decided his next step. After stints with an organic yogurt company and the American Red Cross, Peña met with his uncle and father. Instead of going into the service side of the family business, he "grabbed the steering wheel" of the Dominican Republic paving tile manufac- turing company, Executive Brick and Tile. His next step led him to where he is now. "When Hydrostop's represen- tative came to recruit me in 2007, I had worked for 10 years with their products. By Syndee Holt Hydrostop's rep spent 2½ days with me. I noticed that the rep had started making friends with my father and my family. With their excellent reputation as an environmentally conscious manufac- turer and the determination of their rep, I knew it was a good fit, so I signed on board." Hydrostop was acquired by Quest Construction Products, and Peña has been a technical sales representative for them for five years. Sky Diving And Beaches Peña loves a challenge, and that love carries over into his personal life as well. He has 14 sky diving jumps under his belt so far, completely stressing his mother out. His most memorable jump was in the northwest corner of the Grand Canyon with his uncle, Jose Leon. "Uncle Leon has my same sales position based in Puerto Rico. We had to go out to the Grand Canyon for a sales meeting. My uncle wanted to sky dive, so we stayed an extra two days, did some research, and pulled it off." When Peña isn't working or sky diving, he is either spending time with his close-knit family or just relaxing out on a sand bar, enjoying the water—the classic picture of a homegrown Miami boy. CP