OBERLIN, OH --Frank Hermans, Milbank #3 Supervisor for Coldspring, is the inaugural recipient of the Thor Lund Quarrier Award. Hermans was celebrated during the Tucker Design Awards ceremony at the NSI Study Tour in Salt Lake City on August 26th. 

Over his 54-plus year career in the industry, Hermans has displayed exemplary leadership, an extraordinary work ethic and an unrelenting commitment to the betterment of his community. He has mentored new quarriers to ensure their safety and efficiency, supplied material on short notice and in difficult conditions, and leads by example. Pat Alexander, Coldspring CEO commented: “Your legacy of teaching and leading people will never be matched.”

The Thor Lundh Quarrier Award recognizes a Natural Stone Institute member who has made an extraordinary contribution to quarrying natural stone. The ideal candidate has demonstrated successful and notable accomplishments throughout a professional career in quarrying natural stone. They have been involved and dedicated to the activities and objectives of quarrying operations in their companies and have contributed to furthering the careers of other professionals in the quarrying field.

The award is named after Thor Lundh, founder of Lundhs AS, the largest natural stone producer in Northern Europe. Thor Lundh has been instrumental in transitioning quarry operations from manual to industrial production, contributing to numerous local and international jobs. Thor Lundh demonstrates how far a natural stone supplier can go when daring to take risks and innovate. He industrialized larvikite production in Norway and today the company is developing a global brand. Thor-Anders Lundh Håkestad, CEO of Lundhs commented: “We at Lundhs are honored to be able to present the Thor Lundh Quarrier Award in close cooperation with the Natural Stone Institute. The areas of use for natural stone have changed a lot and the ways of extracting have changed completely. Lundhs has always been at the forefront of these changes and will continue to develop sustainable production methods and utilization of the stone resources for generations to come. With this award we are looking forward to supporting great achievements within the quarrying industry.”

Nominations for the 2025 Thor Lundh Quarrier Award will be announced in early 2025. Learn more at www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/quarrieraward.