Veteran building materials executive Vince Welch joined Watertown, S.D.-based Building Products Inc. (BPI) as the company’s chief operating officer (COO). In the newly created position, Welch will report directly to company president and CEO Lee Schull.

“Lee has built a team at BPI that displays a high level of character and integrity in the industry. I am honored to join BPI to be part of the future growth and success,” Welch said in a prepared statement.

Welch most recently served as the vice president of roofing at Builders FirstSource, where he led numerous initiatives and was responsible for vendor relationships, consultative sales, talent acquisition, and advising locations on inventory, operations, leveraging margins, and overall profit and loss management.

BPI was founded in 1957 and has been in the Schull family since 1965. The company distributes materials and millwork from five distribution centers in Fargo, N.D., Sioux Falls, S.D., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Evansdale, Iowa, and Watertown, Wis. The company recently broke ground on a 68,000 square-foot expansion to its Evansdale location for a millwork facility.