Follow the rooftops

Michael Shephard is surprisingly candid when he recalls his arrival in Fort Myers from Alaska in 1980.

“I didn't know anything about business and I didn't know anything about roofing,” Shephard chuckles.

The California native had been working in Alaska for an insulation company when the owner offered to set him up in business in Fort Myers to diversify revenues. To make it worth his while, he gave Shephard ownership of 49% of the Southwest Florida operation. “He wanted a wintertime business,” Shephard says.