Innovative Stone is one of the leading global suppliers of natural stone serving the commercial and residential sectors with operations in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Turkey and South Africa. Led by founder and CEO Karen Pearse, Innovative Stone dominates the natural stone industry because of its focus on delivering innovation in both materials and technology, the breadth of its client portfolio, its reputation for exacting detail and its unparalleled performance in handling the most challenging and high-profile assignments.

Innovative Stone's impressive client roster includes major business headquarters like the Time Warner Center and Bloomberg building in New York; prominent retailers such as Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Tiffany's; and hotels such as Harrah's Casinos and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The company's ability to source the most beautiful, exotic and rare stones from its vast network of quarries around the world, and meet the demands of the world's leading architects and designers, has won it such prestigious projects as the Palace of the Lost City in South Africa and the Plaza Vespucio in Chile.

Innovative Stone's reputation for successfully responding to enormously time-sensitive and historically significant projects was recently tested by the reception of an honorary assignment to source, polish, engrave and set the 20-ton cornerstone for the Silverstein Properties Freedom Tower, being designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill at the World Trade Center site. According to Ms. Pearse, "This was undoubtedly the most rewarding and compelling assignment in the entire history of our company. We are enormously proud to be able to help Governor Pataki and the people of New York inaugurate the rebirth of our great city."

Innovative Stone is also a dominant force in the residential market as the foremost supplier of granite countertops to The Home Depot stores. From do-it-yourself customers, to world-renowned celebrities, Innovative Stone has installed more than 35,000 kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities, as well as floor and wall tile. The company provides custom design solutions, from fireplaces and furniture, to tabletops and formal garden sculptures. Ms. Pearse's sophisticated understanding of the booming home improvement market and home design trends led to a groundbreaking "By Design" product series in Expo Design Centers, offering customers personalized, one-of-a-kind designer backsplashes for kitchens and baths.

According to Marvin Traub, former CEO of Bloomingdale's, "There is just no company in the stone industry like Innovative Stone that can handle the complexity of the vastly different needs and requirements of both individuals and large corporate and government clients. Its focus on delivering solutions with innovation, excellence and the highest level of client service is unparalleled."

Founder Pearse was born into a New York family-owned flooring business. While studying the dimensional stone business, she launched Innovative Marble and Tile in 1981 and has since built it into what is now Innovative Stone. The company's success and rapid growth gained the attention of New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi who recently commented, "Innovative Stone is the ideal example of a successful entrepreneurial business. Our investment in Innovative Stone will directly help New York's economy by supporting commerce and preserving jobs as well as providing the opportunity to create new jobs in the future."

Said Pearse, "I am passionate about stone, its elegance, its natural beauty, its timelessness. Whether our client is a homeowner remodeling a kitchen, a developer working on a multimillion-dollar property or international royalty, Innovative Stone's entire "quarry to customer" operation is dedicated to infusing design with the affordable luxury of natural stone."