Changing the name was in compliance with the buy/sell agreement with Hanley Wood Expositions, which purchased the show from the StonExpo Federation in late 2004.

The Natural Stone Alliance will be one of the lead annual sponsors of StonExpo along with the Marble Institute of America, and will receive a share of the profits. Income derived from the show by the Natural Stone Alliance will be used to fund important industry initiatives, such as helping the Natural Stone Council, a stone promotion organization made up of several trade associations in the industry. This year's StonExpo will be held from October 20 to 22, 2005 in Las Vegas. NV.

In its first action as the board of the Natural Stone Alliance, a grant of $100,000 a year for three years was made to the Natural Stone Council to help it develop a natural stone brand and to continue promoting natural stone to architects and other design professionals.

The board also named Duke Pointer, long-time industry veteran and former president of Fletcher Granite, as its administrative officer. For further information, contact Duke Pointer at 603-465-3447.