EIN Presswire today announced that I have been accepted into the Forbes Business Council — the foremost growth and networking organization for successful business owners and leaders worldwide. The full announcement is on EIN Presswire.

The membership is an honor, and I want to use this post to do something other than restate the press release. I want to explain what the Forbes Business Council actually is, what the vetting process looks like, and why this membership matters in the context of the work we are building at Capital City Roofing, BuilderLync, and the Feeding the Future Project.

What the Forbes Business Council Is

The Forbes Business Council is an invitation-only community for successful business owners and executives. It is part of the broader Forbes Councils ecosystem, a curated network of vetted leadership communities operated by Forbes that connect senior executives across industries for peer-to-peer collaboration, thought leadership, and contribution to Forbes editorial.

The selection process is not automated. Forbes Councils reviews each applicant against a defined set of criteria — revenue track record, leadership tenure, industry recognition, and demonstrated impact — and the acceptance rate is intentionally low. The community is positioned as a working network, not a directory, and members are expected to contribute, not just display the badge.

For me, the Forbes Business Council sits alongside the other vetted industry affiliations we have pursued at the company level — GAF Master Elite Contractor, CertainTeed ShingleMaster Premier, RT3 (Roofing Technology Think Tank), NRCA, and the Roofing Alliance as a Guarantor Member. Each one of those is a third-party signal that the work is being done at a serious level. Forbes Business Council is the personal-leadership analog.

What the Acceptance Recognizes

The Forbes Business Council selection looked at the body of work across the ventures. The relevant context, summarized:

  • Capital City Roofing. Founded in 2019. Scaled to multi-million dollars in revenue within the first year of relaunch, and tracked toward a $10M-plus run rate in year two. GAF Master Elite, GAF Commercial Certified, CertainTeed ShingleMaster Premier, and Roofing Alliance Guarantor Member. Documented growth covered by national outlets including Bottom Line Inc, KeyCrew, Property Innovation Journal, and NextAssetNews.
  • BuilderLync. Co-Founder and CEO of the AI-driven CRM and operating platform purpose-built for roofing contractors, with public V1 launching June 1, 2026. Featured in National Law Review and across the Hook Agency podcast network.
  • Feeding the Future Project. Founder, President, and Chairman of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to feed one million children in ten years, addressing food insecurity through systemic structural investment rather than discretionary charity.
  • Capital City Roofing Licensing Platform. Architect of the licensing platform that gives experienced operators in other markets the operating system, methodology, and brand without forcing them through the traditional franchise structure. See 5 Questions I Wish I'd Asked Before Signing a Roofing Franchise for the deeper case.

The acceptance into the Forbes Business Council recognizes the work across all four. It is not a single-venture credential.

Why This Matters for the Ventures

A personal credential matters to a company only to the extent that it changes how the company can operate. Here is the practical version of what Forbes Business Council membership unlocks.

Editorial Contribution and Thought Leadership

Forbes Council members contribute to Forbes editorial under the Council Post designation. That is a real distribution channel. Articles published through the program reach Forbes's national audience and carry the credibility of the publication. For someone building a category-defining operating platform like BuilderLync and a licensing structure that is genuinely new in the roofing trade, that distribution is meaningful.

The angles I expect to write on:

  • The operations-first thesis behind AI in service businesses. The Best Choice Roofing acquisition by OpenClaw and the broader pattern of franchise consolidation are showing what happens when scale outpaces operational rigor. The Forbes Council Post platform is the right venue for that argument.
  • Licensing as the modern alternative to franchising. The CRM question every franchisor gets wrong is one entry point. The broader category needs more rigorous writing, and Forbes is one of the few outlets where that writing actually reaches franchise operators and capital allocators.
  • Community investment as business strategy. Feeding the Future Project is not a side project. It is a structural commitment to the communities the company operates in, and the case for that approach needs to be made to other operators.

Vetted Peer Network

The membership is a working network of executives across industries who have built and are running real businesses. The conversations are not the same as the ones at a trade conference, because the cross-industry peer set forces a different kind of rigor. Most of the operational lessons I have written about — the mental model shift from operator to architect, when volume stops hiding operational gaps, the shift that happened when we stopped competing on price — are lessons that translate across industries, and the cross-industry peer set is where those lessons get pressure-tested fastest.

Credibility Signal for Counterparties

For institutional multifamily clients evaluating Capital City Roofing, for operators evaluating the licensing platform, for capital partners evaluating BuilderLync, and for the funders and partners working with Feeding the Future Project, the Forbes Business Council affiliation is a vetted credibility signal. It is not the credential that closes the deal, but it raises the floor on the first meeting.

That matters more than it sounds. Time-to-trust is one of the biggest hidden costs in a service business, a software business, and a nonprofit. Anything that shortens it is operational leverage.

What I Plan to Do With It

The shortest version: contribute, not display.

The Forbes Council Post platform is where most of the public writing will land. I expect to publish on the operating system thesis behind BuilderLync, the licensing argument behind the Capital City Roofing Licensing Platform, the advocacy work going into Roofing Day 2026, and the community-impact case behind Feeding the Future Project.

The peer network is where the cross-industry conversations happen. The most useful operating ideas tend to come from outside the industry you are in. The Council is structured for that, and I plan to use it.

And the credibility signal flows back to every venture. The Forbes Business Council affiliation will sit alongside the GAF, CertainTeed, RT3, NRCA, Roofing Alliance, and BBB credentials on the operating company; it will sit alongside the technology partnerships behind BuilderLync; and it will sit alongside the 501(c)(3) standing of the Feeding the Future Project. Each credential reinforces the others.

Thank You

To the Forbes Councils team who reviewed the application and to the existing members who already make this a real working network rather than a directory — thank you. To my team at Capital City Roofing, my co-founder and the executive team at BuilderLync, the board and volunteers at the Feeding the Future Project, my family, and the operators and clients who have trusted us with their work — none of this gets recognized without you.

The work continues. The membership is a starting point.

Read the Announcement

The official EIN Presswire announcement is here: Brad Strawbridge Accepted Into Forbes Business Council.

Keep Exploring

Related reads on the work behind the ventures and the credentials supporting them:

About Brad Strawbridge

Brad Strawbridge is the Founder and CEO of Capital City Roofing, a GAF Master Elite, GAF Commercial Certified, and CertainTeed ShingleMaster Premier roofing company serving Greater Atlanta and Nashville with residential, multifamily, and commercial roofing. He is also Co-Founder and CEO of BuilderLync, an AI-driven CRM and project management platform built for contractors, and Founder, President, and Chairman of the Feeding the Future Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to feed one million children in ten years. Brad is a member of the Forbes Business Council, RT3 (Roofing Technology Think Tank), NRCA, the Roofing Alliance (Guarantor Member), and the Better Business Bureau.

bradstrawbridge.com | LinkedIn | capitalcityroofing.net | builderlync.com | feedingthefutureproject.org

Tags: Forbes Business Council, Forbes Councils, Brad Strawbridge, Capital City Roofing, BuilderLync, Feeding the Future Project, Capital City Roofing Licensing Platform, EIN Presswire, vetted leadership community, business leadership, roofing industry leadership, multifamily roofing, AI for contractors, community impact