The Key to Leadership at Bitec is Mentorship

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter.  

Learn from David Allen and Joel Shealey about how the culture of family and mentorship has made Bitec’s change in leadership go smoothly. 

In a recent Roofing Road Trips podcast, David Allen and Joel Shealey talk with RoofersCoffeeShop’s® Heidi J. Ellsworth about the change in leadership and future of Bitec. The three discuss the history of Bitec as it celebrates 34 years of business and the strong family ties within the company.   

They share Bruce Shealey’s leadership and the transition in leadership at the company. With Bitec for almost two years, Joel talks about the family connection of working with his father, Bruce, and long-term mentor, David Allen.   

David, the new president of Bitec, has worked with former president, Bruce Shealey, for the last 42 years, and was Bitec's first employee 34 years ago.  

Joel joined Bitec in November 2019, just pre-pandemic, coming from the asphalt refining world. “As time evolved and I continued to grow myself in the roles in different organizations, it allowed me to come to Bitec, get a chance to work with my dad as he winds down to retirement and help Bitec go to the next level and be Bitec 2.0,” says Joel. 

Joel now works as Bitec’s new vice president of operations focusing on strengthening their sales force and seeking new markets. “It's been a real pleasure getting to work with David and my dad and the others here,” says Joel. “They've got such a wealth of knowledge that just is immeasurable and unreplaceable as well.” 

“The culture here that we've always had is a family type culture,” says David. “Joel is Bruce’s son, but there are a lot of us that feel like he's a good mentor and a good father image too. He bears that distinction as well. I will reiterate there are a lot of things that he's done, he's incorporated, he's developed and the exchanges he's had with others, such as machinery manufacturers and other people within the industry have actually advanced it and bolstered it.” 

“Having somebody like David to act as my mentor right now, as well as my father is key,” says Joel. “These guys are an incredible sounding board and their guidance is allowing us to keep a lot of that version 1.0 going into 2.0. We have such an incredibly solid foundation to work off of. We just tweak around the edges to get us to be a little bigger and better.” 

Listen to the podcast for more insight on what’s happening within the company and the leadership change.   

Learn more about Bitec in their RoofersCoffeeShop Directory or visit bi-tec.com.