AGS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS
Paul Klecka, R.S., has been named American Gem Society Marketing Committee chairman. Klecka, founder and president of Paul Klecka Inc. of Chicago, a specialty manufacturer of 18k and platinum jewelry, has chaired the Supplier Committee and has served on the Conclave and Marketing committees. He will be master of ceremonies at the AGS International Conclave 2000, March 22-25, in Philadelphia. He has received multiple De Beers and American Gem Trade Association Spectrum awards for diamond and colored gemstone design.
Mark Moeller, CGA of R.F. Moeller Jewelers in Edina and St. Paul, Minn., has been named chairman of the Board of Managers for the AGS Gemological Laboratory.
Moeller is an AGS trustee and serves on the society’s Ethics and Grievance and Review committees. He is recognized as an expert in the acquisition and sale of previously owned jewelry and frequently writes and lectures on the subject as well as on jewelry store management and customer demographics. In 1995 and 1996 he was the most-requested speaker from the Jewelers Education Foundation.
Moeller succeeds Bill Underwood, CGA, of Underwood Jewelers, Fayetteville, Ark., who served as chairman since 1995. Underwood, who received AGS’s Robert M. Shipley Award in 1993, will continue to be a board member of the lab and serves on AGS’s Diamond Standards, Marketing, and Nominating committees.
Glenn Rothman, R.S., president and chief executive officer of Hearts on Fire, Boston, and Jim Jessop, CGA, president and owner of George Carter Jessop & Co., San Diego, have been appointed to the AGS lab’s board of managers.
Rothman was appointed as an AGS representative on the lab board. Jessop was appointed to represent the lab’s private investors on the board.
M. Lee Christensen, CGA of M.J. Christensen Jewelers, Las Vegas, has stepped down from the board.
JIC OFFERS P.R. HANDBOOK
The Jewelry Information Center has released the JIC Public Relations Handbook, a how-to manual providing guidelines for developing a public relations campaign and incorporating it into a business’s marketing effort.
Included are sections on working with the media, writing a press release, hiring a public relations professional, and using the Internet as a marketing tool. Sample press releases and promotions are included in an appendix.
The handbook is available to JIC members for $20 and to nonmembers for $50. JIC will sponsor a drawing for free copies of the handbook at its educational seminar on Thursday, Jan. 27, at the JCK International Jewelry Show in Orlando, Fla. Ten retailers will be picked as winners.
CAROLINE STANLEY JOINS JA TEAM
Caroline Stanley has joined Jewelers of America as director of marketing and communications.
Prior to her appointment, Stanley was manager of communications at Platinum Guild International USA in Newport Beach, Calif. At PGI, she was instrumental in developing marketing programs that helped build greater market share for platinum jewelry. She also traveled extensively across the country, educating retail jewelers about platinum jewelry.
Among her accomplishments is the creation of Jewelry 101, a full-day educational program for retail sales associates, and Jewelry 501, a similar program for managers. Stanley has cochaired the programs with Bev Hori of JA.
Stanley’s experience includes 10 years working in various capacities at her family’s 63-year-old jewelry store, Stanley Jewelers Gemologists in North Little Rock, Ark. While working in the store, she held several positions on the board of the Arkansas Jewelers Association, including a term as the president. She was also president of the Southwest Guild of the American Gem Society.
Caroline Stanley is Jewelers of America’s new director of marketing and communications.
GROUND IS BROKEN FOR MJSA FACILITY
Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America broke ground for a new national headquarters in October.
The new facility, slated to open in the spring, will feature seminar/education rooms and a full reference library and will offer ample parking to accommodate MJSA meetings and conferences. It will be located at 45 Royal Little Dr. in Providence, R.I.
Also new at MJSA is a cooperative effort with the Attleboro Industrial Museum in Attleboro, Mass., to add a Learning Center to the museum. The center will provide space for school-to-career activities, industry training, and interactive jewelry-manufacturing demonstrations. In another recent workforce-development initiative, MJSA formed a partnership with Rhode Island College to open a jewelry training facility on the RIC campus last spring. Both the Attleboro museum Learning Center and the RIC laboratory will be used for MJSA’s Jewelry Clubs, a program developed to introduce junior and senior high schoolers to the jewelry manufacturing profession. MJSA is working with educators and manufacturers in California, New York, and Louisiana to start similar programs.