Kevin Surace is on a mission to change the skylines of America’s cities through Serious Materials, the company he founded in 2002.
The company’s goal is to increase energy-efficiency in existing buildings. His approach to new, innovative products relies on a zero-barriers approach; product usability must be equal to or better than what’s available, the cost must be the same or less, and the performance must be superior.
Surace employs 400 people at six manufacturing facilities across the continent to create products to meet the need for better energy-efficiency in existing buildings. He began the reinvention of building materials with the company’s first product line, which was a new type of drywall that deadens acoustic energy and turns it into heat energy. It works to soundproof rooms and buildings and addresses a problem never before addressed with drywall. He essentially invented the category of soundproof drywall and brought to market the first building material designed to solve noise control in a way that saves materials, costs less and delivers the only reliable, foolproof solution.
Surace’s company is also making an impact with windows. Single pane windows have an R value — the amount of energy-efficiency it creates — of R-1. Dual pane windows have a value of R-2. The company is producing windows with an R-value as high as R-11 and commercial glass as rated as high as R-20.
In recognition of his efforts, Surace was named entrepreneur of the year by Inc. magazine in 2010 and was recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the world’s 50 most innovative companies in 2011.
How to reach: Serious Materials, (408) 541-8000 or www.seriousmaterials.com
