Fabricator How-to

Conference Speakers Bios

Kevin Padden

Kevin has been active in tile & stone for most of his adult life. Since his father was in the industry at the time of Kevin's birth, he can truly claim that he was "born" into the business. Since following his father into the tile & stone business in 1978, he was owner of Padden Tile & Stone for ten years, prior to relocating to Arizona in 1992.

In the time he has been in Arizona, Kevin has worked in every aspect of natural stone fabrication, production, sales, estimating, education, operations & overall general management. He has been instrumental in directing the establishment of multiple fabrication shops in the Phoenix area.

Kevin's passion for education has led him to be a regularly featured seminar presenter at StonExpo & Coverings, and has been a contributing writer for national publications serving the natural stone industry. Kevin serves as the MIA Training Specialist.

Keith Graves

Keith started as a stone fabricator in 1983 while he was attending college. He was promoted to sales and estimating in 1987 and in 1991 promoted to Stone Division Manager.

He wrote his first article on stone fabrication in 1993 and started participating in educational seminars in 1996. By 1997 he had written one of the first known stone fabrication manuals for the United States and began actively conducting fabrication seminars for NTC.

He has also conducted seminars at many stone trade shows. In 2003, he started working for Marva Marble & Granite in the Richmond area office where he supplies natural stone to fabricators in the mid-Atlantic region of our country.

He continues to keep up with new fabrication techniques and machinery through his close customers.

Frederick M. Hueston

Mr. Hueston is founder and president of The National Training Center for Stone and Masonry Trades, a successful marble and stone consulting and training company.

He is recognized as a nationally known consultant.

A few of his accomplishments are listed below:

Holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical & Physical Science (University of Central Florida 1981). Holds a Doctor of Science degree in Technical Science (Bridgewater University 2002)
Director for the National Training Center for Stone & Masonry Trades and instructor for master and senior level craftsman certification
Member of ASTM(American Society for Testing Materials) C-18 committee
Founding member of the International Association of Stone Restoration and Conservation(IASRC)
Has appeared on several television shows including The Discovery Channel, HGTV and several local talk shows
Frequently presents seminars and presentations for stone, tile and historical associations
Has published articles on stone installation, care & restoration in both the United States and foreign publications and journals
Author of several books on stone and tile and as well as instructional videos
Writes a syndicated newspaper column 'Around the House'for several papers across the US
Has served as technical advisor, consultant & expert witness for numerous projects across the US, Canada, Asia and Europe