Our Team

Chuck Smid, Founder
Chuck is the soul of New England Slate. Starting out collecting slate in 1974, he became a master sorter and “sounder”—the process by which each slate piece is checked for integrity. Now, Chuck leads NES with a deep knowledge of slate’s performance and potential.

Gary Otto, Logistics
Gary has been at NES for over a quarter century and, having verified the quality of over a million pieces of slate, specializes in assembling orders and finding the best way to get them delivered to sites around the world—including every continent except Antarctica—on time and on budget.

Clay Heald, Sourcing & Estimating
Clay knows every quarry in the area and uses this knowledge to find the right size, color and texture to meet every customer’s needs. He also has an incredible ability to assess a job, walk clients through details and complexities, and provide an estimate of actual costs for optimal expectation management.

Chris Smid, Operations & Financials
Chris has grown up at New England Slate, helping his father from the earliest days to check, sort, punch and palletize our slate. After earning an master's at Duke University and working in larger corporations, Chris chose to come back to Vermont and the family business. He’s versed in every aspect of business at New England Slate including our quarry production and our environmental and social responsibility initiatives.

David Murray, Quarry Manager
Dave has been producing slate roofing for over 30 years—from drilling and blasting in the quarry to sawing, splitting, trimming and punching in the mill. Dave has perfected the craft of “reading the stone” and his team of master quarrymen ensure that New England Slate has a steady supply of the highest quality roofing slate available.