Jim Whitten Roof Consultants, LLC (JWRC) announced it has received its Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) certification from the City of Austin and its Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) certification from the State of Texas. JWRC also named Rob Hernandez as its new president and majority owner in November 2017.

"Over the past several years, Rob has led the firm in providing quality and trusted roofing and waterproofing consulting services to our clients throughout Texas, the U.S. and Mexico,” said Jim Whitten, JWRC founder and vice president. “It brings me great pride to enter into this new era for our firm. Under his leadership, Rob will further expand the growth of our Austin and Dallas offices as well as government-funded projects.”

The certifications apply to both local and statewide government-funded contracts, allowing the company to compete for a greater amount of roofing, waterproofing and building envelope consulting projects. Though JWRC has already been a subconsultant on many high-profile government contracts, such as the Texas Governor’s Mansion reconstruction, the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Austin, and the Mission Espada historic restoration, the MBE and HUB certifications will allow for further access and opportunities for government-funded work.

"Jim has been a great mentor and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow under his leadership and expertise for more than 20 years. Because of him, JWRC has gained a reputation as being a go-to firm for independent, professional roofing, waterproofing and building envelope consulting,” said Hernandez.

With more than 24 years of experience in the roofing and waterproofing consulting sector, Hernandez has been with the company since 2005 and served as vice president since 2007. He has collaborated with Whitten in all major decision making for the business over the past decade. Whitten and Hernandez have led important projects for the Austin Independent School District, University of Texas at San Antonio, Austin Community College, Toyota's North American headquarters, Liberty Mutual’s headquarters, and more.

Hernandez now looks to the future with goals of measured growth, growing the firm’s government contracts, and expanding staff in Austin and Dallas, all while maintaining the firm’s adherence to delivering professional, timely, cost-effective and quality roofing and waterproofing expertise to its clients. Whitten will continue to be a co-lead with the company, providing counsel to Hernandez and other leadership, while Hernandez takes on the day to day business operations.

"We are excited for the company to evolve and look forward to the future business opportunities these certifications may bring. While we will continue to offer the level of service and expertise we are known for, we hope to grow new relationships with governmental entities, as well as offer added value to prime architecture and engineering firms on teaming opportunities where MBE and HUB certifications are procurement requirements," adds Hernandez.

"We're a service-driven company in a very specialized field, and our clients rely on us to help them maintain and extend the useful service life of their building assets as well as advise them when their facilities do not meet current codes and standards. That's why our firm makes industry specialized training and ongoing education a priority for our staff," said Hernandez. "A vast majority of our business results from referral work and word of mouth, as our reputation, trust, and expertise speak for us."

JWRC is also pursuing its federal MBE certification, in order to qualify for future projects that have federal funding.

For more information, visit www.jimwhitten.com.