Alumni Profile: Doug Goldsmith

COMPANY PROFILE:

Rock of Ages Corporation - Rock of Ages Corporation was founded in 1885 and is an integrated granite quarrier, manufacturer and retailer whose principal product is granite memorials used primarily in cemeteries. The Company believes that it is the largest quarrier, manufacturer and retailer of finished granite memorials and granite blocks for memorial use in North America, based on revenues. The Company owns and operates 11 active quarry properties and 6 manufacturing and sawing facilities in North America, principally in Vermont and the Province of Quebec.

The Company markets and distributes its memorials on a retail basis through approximately 102 Company-owned retail sales outlets (including sales outlets located at certain cemeteries owned by the Company located in the state of Kentucky) in the states indicated in Item 2 below. The Company also sells memorials wholesale to approximately 65 independent authorized Rock of Ages retailers in the United States and Canada.

The Company markets its memorials at four quality and price points under four separate brand names: Rock of Ages Signature, Rock of Ages Sealmark, Golden Rule by Rock of Ages and Stone Eternal by Rock of Ages. The Company also sells non-branded memorials.

The Company believes the Rock of Ages trademark is one of the oldest and best known brand names in the granite memorialization industry. The Company actively promotes its brand names and places a seal bearing the brand name on each branded memorial. All Rock of Ages branded memorials are supported by a perpetual warranty with varying levels of coverage depending on the brand.

The Company has operations in four business segments:

Quarrying,
Manufacturing,
Retailing and
Cemeteries.

Included within the business segments are operations that are unincorporated divisions of Rock of Ages and others that are separately incorporated subsidiaries.

Source: Rock of Ages, Company 10-K

EDUCATION:
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, UVM, 1991
M.B.A., UVM, 2000

BUSINESS:
Rock of Ages Corporation

Mr. Goldsmith graduated from UVM in 1991 and went to work for Rock of Ages, a granite quarrying and manufacturing company in Barre, Vermont.

He provided engineering support for the company's facilities and performed technical sales duties for some of the company's engineered products.

As Rock of Ages began expanding, Mr. Goldsmith was asked to take on more duties by helping with the consolidation of new business acquisitions. He soon found himself in the new position of CIO for the company.

Realizing he enjoyed the "business end" as much as the engineering, he returned to UVM part-time to pursue an MBA. Soon after finishing his degree, the CFO position at Rock of Ages became available, and that is the title he holds today.

During his tenure as an MBA student, Mr. Goldsmith focused as much as he could on Accounting and Finance, being, as he describes, "a good numbers person." He enjoys applying the concepts of business strategy learned at UVM to Rock of Ages to make it more competitive and sustainable.