In 1982, Tom began his roofing career at the very young age of 14, working with his cousin on weekends and during summer break. As almost all trades people do, he started on the lowest rung of the ladder, working clean up and general labor with the crew while he finished high school. Once he graduated from Hinsdale Central High School, he was able to begin working full time and began his roofing career in earnest.

In the beginning, he worked for smaller companies where everybody on the crew did most everything on a job and he quickly started adding to his skills in both residential and commercial steep slope roofing. It was at this smaller firm where he was introduced to everything from estimating to installation to job set up. Once he mastered the installation of most every type of steep slope roofing system, he saw an opportunity to expand his knowledge and skill by moving into the commercial side of roofing.

He graduated into some of the largest roofing companies in America that allowed him to learn everything there was to know about commercial buildings and their customers, while also expanding his knowledge of flat roofing products and installation. While working there, he traveled to Florida to repair hurricane damage, and to Seattle where he worked on installing large water park roofs, and as one of his last large scale commercial projects, he helped to replace the roof at the Civic Opera House in downtown Chicago.

He always knew that he wanted to take his hard earned knowledge and move into more of the administrative side of the business and less in the actual roofing side, so Tom moved to doing CAD drawings and take offs for large commercial projects for many of the same companies he had previously worked for.

At about this time, Tom and his family decided that the Village of Oswego would be home and he set about finding a job closer to home that allowed him to utilize his skills to their utmost. He found a smaller 25 year old roofing company in Aurora where his career exploded. The owners of that company were looking to expand their footprint and recognized that Tom had the knowledge, drive and personality to start a residential division in a predominantly commercial roofing company. Given almost total freedom to create a new division, Tom built a very large and successful residential division with a vast array of clients that he owed for his success.

It was here that Tom learned how to read people as well as their needs so he wasn’t just selling them a roof, he was selling them a solution to their problem. It was due to this work ethic that Tom’s client list grew mostly from word of mouth and he was now ready to expand to new horizons. When the owners offered him a partnership at the company, he enthusiastically said yes.

After a couple of years there, he realized that he was quickly outgrowing the ability of the company to keep up with him and he needed to find people to help him continue to grow the residential business. Fortunately, he ran into Shari Kately-Franzen at a baseball game where their boys played ball together. He watched Shari and how she walked up and down the sidelines talking to everyone there whether she knew them or not, and realized that people liked to talk to her as much as she liked talking to them. When he ran into Shari again at her job in a local pizza place, she continued to impress him with her people skills and thought she would be a good fit for the company’s growth.

After thinking about it for a while, he realized that while he could teach anyone about roofing, he couldn’t teach personality and drive, so he asked her if she might be interested in a career change. Fortunately for him, she agreed. Tom had always loved teaching people about roofing and had been doing so since the beginning of his career, and Shari took that knowledge in like a sponge. She learned the trade basics quickly and more importantly she was as good at talking to people about roofing as she was about baseball and everything else. They also discovered that they worked well together and were very similar in personality, drive and eagerness. They were quickly becoming a huge success with the residential division of the company and when there was an ownership change, Tom and Shari decided it was time to take their skills out on their own and join forces in Top Tier Exteriors of Illinois Inc.

On the rare occasion that he isn’t working, you will likely find Tom fishing with family and friends, or out on the golf course trying to recreate his recent hole-in-one.

Shari graduated from Western Illinois University excited to start her entrepreneurial life in the marketing world.  Her first career endeavor had her working on the supplier side of the market research world as a marketing research assistant in Naperville, Illinois.  After a few years of gaining experience on the supplier side , she decided that the client side of the research world was her passion.  This led her to accept a job in the Consumer Insights Division of a major consumer packaged goods company (McKee Foods, better known as Little Debbie)  near Chattanooga, Tennessee.  There she was responsible for gaining a better understanding of what consumers were looking for in regards to new products and package development.

While Chattanooga was a beautiful town in which to reside, she decided to move back to the suburbs of Chicago after only a short time.  She missed friends, family and Chicago style pizza!  The consumer packaged goods company she was working for asked her to consult for them for a short time while they searched for someone to fill her role. This was a perfect opportunity for Shari to start her own consulting business and do what she loved, helping businesses grow.  Kately Marketing was developed  in 2005. McKee Foods did not want to lose Shari as an employee but knew she wanted to move back home to Illinois where she was born and raised.  So, McKee Foods decided  not to find a replacement for Shari’s position,  but rather hire Shari and Kately Marketing as a long term marketing consultant. Shari spent the next 18 years as a business owner, consulting not only for McKee Foods, but other companies as well.

So, how did Shari go from the marketing world to roofing you ask?  Well, that’s a funny story.  Shari met Tom through Varsity baseball at Oswego High School where both of them had sons that were on the team.  As usual, Shari was making her rounds to meet new people in between innings of the baseball game.  Tom noticed her talking to everyone and asking how their day was going and genuinely being interested in their lives.  It didn’t matter if she knew you or not, you may have even been on the opposing team, but to each person she was welcoming and showed sincerity to others.

Over the next few months, Tom and Shari kept running into each other.  Tom noticed the charisma Shari brought to any room she entered, and how people gravitated towards her and her outgoing personality.  They all appeared to trust her with anything and everything in their lives.  It was as if she had never met a stranger! At about that same time, Tom was looking for someone to help him grow his roofing/siding business and immediately wondered if Shari would be interested.  Tom had been in the roofing industry for over 35 years.  He had the knowledge, ability and most importantly willingness to teach someone about the industry, but he could not teach the “important” stuff.  Shari already demonstrated her mastery of being a strong listener, honest person, and caring of others.  After seeing how well Shari communicated with others, he was determined to have Shari join him in his business.  

They quickly teamed up and Tom began sharing his knowledge of the roofing industry. Shari was a sponge, soaking up anything and everything Tom could teach her.  Before long, Shari was taking the lead on the residential side of the business. She did everything from setting appointments, to constructing and delivering the quotes, to helping homeowners choose the best color roof for their home.  

Once Shari had a solid understanding of the roofing side of the business, she then learned all she could in regards to siding.  Through building lasting relationships with customers, Shari also recognized some of their customers had a need for something the company was not providing, windows.  Therefore, Shari developed a window division for the company.  

Learning all of the products, terminology, roofing/siding/window components has made Shari an expert in the area of exterior housing components. After several years working for and with Tom and lots of hard work, long hours, sweat and determination, Tom and Shari have decided to utilize each of their strengths and become partners in Top Tier Exteriors of Illinois, Incorporated.    

Personal Life

Shari’s true love is her family, which consists of her husband and three sons.  Shari beams with pride when she talks about her three children. Shari strives daily to be the best role model for them, teaching them the importance of great communication, a strong work ethic and 

When Shari is not working,  she will be found supporting her 2 youngest children on the baseball/football field or basketball court, depending on which season it is.  When she has a rare day off from the organized sports, she will be on the golf course with her oldest son, trying to obtain her first hole in one!