SWAT Leadership
The folks who oversee the SWAT symposium put in quite a few hours to make it the success it is. The planning is done throughout the year, both in person and online. This organization is fortunate to have qualified, dedicated people coordinating each annual symposium. The AAW stresses that "Successful chapters are those whose leaders are both passionate and committed." Of course, that statement refers to individual clubs, but it holds true for this one, too. The SWAT leadership is passionate about turning and they are committed to helping others become more proficient turners.
President Buddy Compton
For 33 years I was a public school teacher, coach and administrator. While I was still working but getting ready to retire, I saw some of Larry Roberts’ turnings at a class reunion and started talking to him about how he accomplished these great pieces of art that I was admiring. He gave me a very lengthy explanation which really sparked an interest…so, it began.
I have attended classes, demonstrations in different clubs, as well as visiting turners to learn new techniques or to be told what I should have remembered from past lectures and demos. I have never attended a demo that didn’t teach me something new. My development has always been under the guidance of Larry Roberts, a master turner and my wife Carol who is my greatest asset for design and color combinations. I enjoy the thrill of turning a chunk of wood into a nice, usable one-of-a-kind piece. Creating natural edge, smooth edge, off-centered, large and small pieces is what I strive for each day. I also enjoy watching the transformation of the wood by using different embellishment methods. I work with different techniques and media which include texturing, airbrushing, paints, dyes, pyrography, resin (epoxy – which is a new endeavor for me and one that I find intriguing) and various inlay materials.
I have been involved in SWAT since 2003 as an attendee, demonstrator, and officer of both our local club and SWAT. Again, Larry Roberts strongly urged me to attend the SWAT Symposium. It was either in Tyler or Wichita Falls, but I have been to every one of the Symposiums since that 2003 experience. I have been totally hooked since picking up my first gouge in the garage at Larry’s house. I have been on a great journey – from learning what the bevel was and what it meant to hopefully bringing my turning skills to an acceptable level.
I am currently a member of the Comanche Trail Woodturnings in Midland, Texas, a member of American Association of Woodturners and served as Second Vice President, Vice President and President of SWAT, enjoying every minute of the journey.
Brian Schrader 1st Vise President
I started woodturning in late 2016. A friend was moving to Ireland and his 60Hz equipment would not operate. He sold me his entire shop… wood, equipment and my first lathe. It was a 1950’s Montgomery Ward model. It had an 8” throw, mounted on a wooden sawhorse. It had an external motor and belt drive to a three-speed pulley.
When I started turning I lived in Longview. I searched for woodturners and found the East Texas Woodturners that met in Tyler. I joined ETW at the end of 2016. I first attended SWAT in 2017. I realized I had only seen the tip of the iceberg. I was soon in the market for a better lathe. Estates sales, garage sales and retailers have allowed me to better equip my turning tools.
In 2019 job changes forced a few relocations and I was for a time a member of GTW and WNT. After retiring and starting part time consulting I moved to Forney and joined HCW.
In 2024 I was approached to consider joining the SWAT Executive Committee. I knew an event such as SWAT does not happen without many dedicated volunteers to make SWAT a truly special and internationally recognized event. I am honored and humbled to be a member of the Executive Committee to help organize, plan and execute such a grand event.
Henry Pennell 2nd Vice President
My first experience with a lathe was at a Woodworking Show in Dallas in 2009. Craft Supplies had a booth and invited me to make a pen. I was hooked. Later, I took a class from John Horn at Woodcraft, and bought a Jet mini lathe. I joined Dallas Area Woodturners (DAW) in November of 2010, and the demonstrator was Michael Hosaluk. Wow, I was mesmerized by his skill and the ease with which he handled his tools. I later became Treasurer of DAW in 2013, and most recently, President in 2017. I attended my first SWAT Symposium in 2013, and have been here every year since. I love talking to the other turners, seeing the demos and expanding my awareness of the various areas of our craft. I hope to help SWAT prosper and improve in the coming years.
Brad Glock Member at Large
I transform discarded wood – often destined for the landfill – into unique works of art. What began over 20 years ago with a single woodturning class quickly evolved into a lifelong pursuit of craftsmanship, creativity, and continuous learning
Each year brings new challenges and discoveries in woodturning. I’ve been fortunate to study under nationally recognized woodturners, always embracing the belief that there’s something to learn from everyone. The journey has exposed me to the vat and varied possibilities within the art form – woodturning is truly limitless.
While I’m especially drawn to creating hollow forms, vases, and boxes, I enjoy exploring a wide range of techniques and styles. In recent years, I’ve expanded my practice to include surface enhancements such as carving, texturing, burning, and the application of paints and metals. These experiments allow me to push the boundaries of traditional woodturning and bring new life to each piece.
My work is a celebration of transformation – of turning the overlooked into the extraordinary.
Kelly Shaw Member at Large
I am a proud member of the Central Texas Woodturners who started turning in 2019 after buying my first lathe off a Facebook Marketplace ad from a Methodist preacher in Lorena, Texas. He let me turn my first pen right there in his shop, and I went home and made an oak end-grain cup with dull tools and way too much speed. Fortunately, my daughter Brooklyn introduced me to the internet, where I not only learned how to move the belt on the lathe, but also discovered SWAT and eventually this amazing group of lifelong friends and role models I know today.
Like most turners, I’ve spent a small fortune on tools since then, slowly learning my way around bowls, artistic pieces, architectural work, and plenty of production turning. I sell at local markets, mostly to move pieces out of the shop, but the truth is a lot of what I make is given away to friends, family, and anyone that shows interest in the craft. I’ve even had the honor of teaching a few fun classes at my local Woodcraft and meeting some lifelong friends in the process – though I’m not retired yet, so my wife Joey says I’d better wait until I pay off her car and Brooklyn’s tuition before I get carried away.
I’ve been fortunate to travel around the country to woodturning symposiums, meet great people, and learn from some of the best turners in the world. I’ve attended the John C Campbell Folk School, watched incredible demonstrations at SWAT and elsewhere, and taken workshops with artists like Nick Agar, Holland Van Gores, Rebecca DeGroot, Jim Duxbury, Martin Saban-Smith, and many others. I’ve also learned a tremendous amount from the mentors in my local club – people like Gary Roberts, Len Brissette, and the Tolly Brothers – where I’ve served as both Program Chair and President.
In 2022, I was lucky enough to win the Robust American Beauty at SWAT – something I still can’t quite believe. With a gift like that, volunteering and giving back to help keep SWAT the best symposium in the world doesn’t just feel right…it feels like an obligation.
I am by no means a polished, great turner. I’m just another person who loves the craft, keeps learning and most of all is grateful to be a part of a community shaped by generosity, mentorship, and genuine camaraderie.
Past President, Pam Thompson
After
college and a few years in the workforce, my husband and I moved to Thailand
and lived there for many years. How I wish my love of furniture making had
developed by then because it would have been a great learning atmosphere. We
moved on to 2 other continents before settling back in Texas. While I was
overseas, my parents attended nearly every SWAT symposium from the very
beginning.
When we returned to the States in 2003, I attended my first symposium with my
parents. I had NO idea what turning was but decided to take a little “vacation
“ with them anyway. Soon after the symposium was over, my dad sent me his
old lathe to try my hand at turning. I can’t say that I was hugely successful,
but I kept at it. Now, I’ve added a couple more lathes to my shop, and lots
more tools.
I will admit that building furniture is my first love. I started turning to add
legs and other “parts” to my pieces. I spent several months studying furniture
construction at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. Since that time, I
have attended many fine woodworking schools all over the country and hope that
I will still be able to continue my furniture construction education.
I always look forward to attending SWAT and have only missed one in the last 16
years. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones each year, is a high point
in my life. Serving on the SWAT board in 2019 as the chairman of the 3
for 1 raffle, was such fun. I look forward to spending the next several
years on the Board and working for you to make SWAT a continued success.
Treasurer, Dave Marshall
Raised in a small cabin on the plains of Kansas, I started my woodworking and woodturning career early in life. After building my first, small lathe, I began my woodturning career by selling hand-turned toothpicks to local farmers and businessmen.
My skill set grew tremendously during this period which culminated in my ability to use a scraper to turn almost any product on the lathe. When I was thirteen, I read with lust about turner David Ellsworth in in an old black and white edition of Fine Woodworking. That article vaulted me to turn (scrape) my first box and lid. A beauty of a specimen in black walnut. Form and function – perfect. The bottom lacking just somewhat as not being completely flat and bearing the hallmark of three screw holes that attached the faceplate. Still stunning today.
Thirteen was the age a young student began his first year in Industrial Arts class in junior high school. I was no different except that I wanted to use those big, Rockwell school lathes! But, alas, those lathes were only meant for the more-skilled, more-mature ninth graders. Balderdash! After sweet-talking my Industrial Arts teacher, Mr. Anderson (who drove a pristine ’57 Chevy), he allowed me to come to shop before classes started for the day and turn all I wanted. He showed me the very basics of some of the limited tools we had available for turning. For some reason I don’t ever recall a lesson in sharpening these tools though…. that probably explains my expertise with the scraper. I turned my heart out that year; sock darns, miniature baseball bats, candlesticks, miniature baseball bats, boxes, small plates, miniature baseball bats to name a few.
Something happened. I think life, girls, schooling, college, my masterplan to escape Kansas tapered my turning time. Now don’t get me wrong, summertime, between parties and pitchers of beer, I tried to design, woodwork and woodturn as much as possible. I’ve always loved the design and then build and then re-design cycle of creation. Maybe that’s why I became an Aerospace engineer.
After graduation and landing in sunny Burbank, California, I got my first paycheck. No, I did not buy an obligatory TV. No, my newlywed wife did not “need” that sofa or cookware. I bought my first Shopsmith for my single-car garage/shop. I bought it for “us.” I was on my way!
Years later, and hundreds of projects later, we ending up in panther-sleepy Fort Worth. After starting a family, I began to look for a woodworking club to join, similar to ones I belonged to in California and Georgia (kids can be noisy and whiny, unlike the soothing whir of a lathe or tablesaw). Not finding anything close by in the Metroplex, I ran across a magazine article featuring Devore Burc and its mentioning of a bunch of ragtags called the Woodturners of North Texas. Whoa…. they met only three miles from my home! Their next meeting, I snuck in and grabbed a seat and was blown away by the demo. I was hooked again.
I know that this is fascinating as all get-out, but long-story short, I joined that ragtag bunch and haven’t looked back. After a while, I was president of the Woodturners of North Texas. The glamour and prestige went to my head and I ruled the Club with an iron fist for four years. That group of ragtags became a lean, mean turning machine, I say.
As a Club member, I became familiar with the South West Association of Turners and attended my first SWAT symposium. Blown away, again! Unbelievable talent…and some of the other turners weren’t that bad either.
I’ve been Treasurer of SWAT for a few years now and can almost make the budget numbers add up - between turning projects. The remainder of my free time is spent….wait, I have no free time outside of SWAT. Other activities I do between SWAT projects are spending quality time with my wife (as long as she’s conveniently standing in my dusty shop), devotion to my new career in the Oil and Gas business, I’m also Treasurer of a professional organization (North Texas Measurement Association), eating, sleeping… well, you get the drift.
I am truly honored to be associated with SWAT and every year look forward to the unbelievable talent and skill that you all bring to Waco!
Secretary, Stormy Boudreaux
My father was a self-employed “old-school” carpenter contractor. I used to help him in his shop in the suburbs of New Orleans. There was nothing he couldn’t make with his hands. Hopefully I’ve learned a few things from him. After college, I joined the US Air Force in 1968. Upon retiring after 24 years, went to work for the Lockheed Martin Skunkworks, transferring to Fort Worth in 2002.
The first time I was exposed to wood turning was in 2003. Hanging around the Woodcraft store, I was invited to attend a Saturday session of Woodturners of North Texas where the national turner Barry Gross would be teaching the group how to turn a wooden egg. I had never touched a lathe prior. He was kind enough to set me up in a corner on a mini-lathe and had me turning coves and beads, basic spindle turning skills – I didn’t know enough to be apprehensive of the skew! I enjoyed that session very much.
At the time, living on a shoestring, I purchased a used Jet Mini and a couple of gouges. And off I went! I went to my first SWAT Symposium in 2004. Soon I was President of WNT. Certainly, not because I was the best turner, no way! We had some very skillful and remarkable turner / instructors in that club and I learned a lot. WNT was one of the clubs that helped bring SWAT, as we know it today, into being, initially known as A Texas Turn or Two. Later, it became the South West Association of Turners when clubs from neighboring states wanted to join in on the TTT turning Symposium.
After 4 years as President of WNT, I passed the baton to Dave Marshall. I became very active with SWAT, first as the Vendor Chairman and then the Chairman for securing art donations for the 2-for-1 Raffle. I did this for many years. Eventually, when an elected SWAT VP needed to back out of his duties due to personal reasons, I was the scrape at the bottom of the barrel to replace him mid-year. I was in above my head but Buddy Compton, who was the SWAT President, was a wonderful mentor and friend; he knew just when to throw me a life preserver and when to let me flounder a bit - eventually I became SWAT President in 2017.
"the only permanent value of work lies in achievement." Bill Percell
SWAT 2026
SWAT 2026