By The Roofing Brief Team. Last reviewed: October 2026.
QXO named Vanessa Fusco, CEO of Rejoice and Restore LLC in Naugatuck, Connecticut, its 2026 North American Female Roofing Professional of the Year, per a June 3, 2026 Business Wire release carried by Yahoo Finance.
What the award is
Fusco won a nationwide public vote against four other finalists. The prize is $10,000 plus tickets to the 2027 National Women in Roofing Days and the International Roofing Expo. The program is in its sixth year, and finalists were chosen from more than 2,000 nominations. The release says Fusco built Rejoice and Restore from the ground up and that the company completed its first project in 2024.
QXO Chief Human Resources Officer Josephine Berisha said: “The roofing industry is stronger because of women like Vanessa leading it.” The other finalists were Jennifer George (Northern Arizona Roof Services, Flagstaff), Lauren Marsh (Ridgeline Construction HSV, Athens, Alabama), Kathleen Maxwell (Maxwell Roofing & Sheet Metal, Nashville) and Stacey Oakley (ProFormance Builder Solutions, Winter Garden, Florida).
| If you are | Then note |
|---|---|
| A roofing company owner thinking about entering | Entry is by nomination, with 2,000+ nominations this cycle and a public vote among five finalists; watch qxo.com for the next cycle. |
| Tracking QXO’s moves in distribution | The winner is an independent contractor, not a QXO operating unit; see our roofing private equity consolidation tracker for the distribution rollup involving QXO, Beacon and SRS. |
| Researching who works in the trade | Our roofing workforce demographics report covers the trade’s gender composition. |
What to watch
The release describes a $10,000 prize and event tickets, not a hiring or promotion program, so it says nothing about measurable change across the 2,000+ nominated businesses. Trade groups are courting independents with member programs too, as our report on the RCMA membership program describes.
Source: Yahoo Finance via QXO (June 3, 2026). The Roofing Brief was not involved in the recognition process.