2025’s 24 Karat Weekend Was “Just Kool”

By Rob Bates | March 18, 2025

The jewelry industry celebrated 24 Karat Weekend 2025 in New York City with two days jam-packed with glitzy events and honors for industry icons.

The annual schmooze-athon kicked off last Friday, March 14, with the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) luncheon at the Pierre hotel. The organization gave Alan Zimmer, president and CEO of Reeds Jewelers, its Stanley Schechter Award, which honors an industry member who upholds ethics and integrity,

Schechter’s son Joel called Zimmer a “great quiet leader.… When things go well, credit goes to everyone else. When things go south, Alan takes the blame. This is the kind of leadership you don’t seem much of today.

“This is a guy who knows the names of all his employees—their spouses, their kids, their dogs. It’s really heartwarming.”

Zimmer told attendees, “My father always taught me to follow the golden rule: to treat others as you want to be treated. Even though he’s no longer with us, to this day I still strive to meet those expectations. I have tried to always do right by the industry, as it’s done right by me.”

Also at the luncheon, JVC president and CEO Sara Yood interviewed Botswana’s minister of minerals and energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, who shared an anecdote about how much diamonds mean to her country.

“When we were trying to attain our independence in 1965, there was a Canadian reporter that said, ‘Botswana has been arguing for independence, and surely it’s going to be just another basket case.’ Because that’s how poor we were. We were the third-poorest country in the world.

“Discovering diamonds, and starting this partnership with De Beers in the 1970s, has turned Botswana around, and we are now an upper-middle-income country,” said Kenewendo. “And we are hoping, with this [new De Beers] agreement, going forward we will be able to transform Botswana and we’ll be able to get into the high-income space.”

On Friday night, Jewelers of America held its 23rd annual Gem Awards ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street. Recipients were Chanel, for high jewelry excellence; Beth Hutchens, founder and creative director of Foundrae, for jewelry design; Sam Broekema, editor-in-chief of Only Natural Diamonds, for media excellence; and Reinhold Jewelers of San Juan, Puerto Rico, for retail innovation.

The night was capped off by John Green, CEO of Lux Bond & Green, receiving the lifetime achievement award.

“I am lucky to work in an industry that I’m passionate about,” Green said. “My aspiration tonight is for more of us in this room to become educators and mentors, to keep elevating our luxury industry to compete with other luxury businesses.…

“The jewelry business’ core values are in relationships, value, and community,” said Green. “The jewelry and watch industry must keep changing to become more relevant to a new generation, without losing the culture and customers that got us here.”

24 Karat Weekend events continued on Saturday, March 15, when the Jewelers’ Security Alliance (JSA) held a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club.

JSA executive vice president Scott Guginsky led the room in a moment of silence for the four industry members who lost their lives in work-related crimes in 2024—a higher yearly number than usual. Guginsky said he found last year’s incidents particularly hard to fathom: Two different Florida jewelers were killed by customers; a Michigan jeweler was killed during a home invasion; and, in perhaps the most tragic story, a California jeweler may have accidentally shot his wife during a gunfight following a robbery.

Jewelers’ Security Alliance gave its 20th annual Industry Service Award to Amy-Elise Signeavsky, law enforcement and diamond recovery manager at GIA. Jennifer Mulvihill, president of JSA, hailed Signeavsky for providing valuable help locating stolen pieces and working with local, state, and federal authorities.

In addition, JSA presented its 26th Annual James B. White Law Enforcement Award to Caleb S. Martin, a detective with the Forsyth County, Ga., sheriff’s office, in recognition of his work that led to the arrests of several gangs preying on jewelry stores.

The weekend’s festivities ended with the 24 Karat Club’s annual banquet on Saturday night at Cipriani South Street. The event featured entertainment by Just Kool, a band that performs the music of Kool and the Gang.

Top: The Gem awards last Friday night at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York (photo courtesy of Jewelers of America)