The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) has appointed Richard Katz (pictured), senior vice president of Richline Group, as the Providence, R.I.–based group’s new chair.
Katz has volunteered with JBT since 2008, most recently serving as vice chairman of the board.
He succeeds Ann Arnold, who served two one-year terms as chair, starting in 2020.
Brian D. Fleming, owner of Carla Corp., was chosen vice chairman; Jeffery Corey, CEO of H. E. Murdock Co. (which does business as Day’s Jewelers), was chosen second vice chair.
Roger Gesswein III, market development manager for Paul H. Gesswein & Co., has joined the organization’s board. Nilesh Sheth, owner of Forever Collections, has been appointed to its executive committee.
The Jewelers’ Security Alliance (JSA) also had board elections.
Steven Kaiser, president and CEO of Kennedy North America, a branch of an Australian luxury retail jewelry chain, was reelected to a three-year term as the group’s chair.
It’s been a busy few weeks for Kaiser: He was also presented with the Jewelers Vigilance Committee’s Stanley Schechter Award for upholding industry ethics at the JVC luncheon at the Pierre hotel in New York City, on March 18.
Other JSA officers elected for three-year terms were Alan Zimmer, CEO of Reeds Jewelers, who was elected vice chair; Mark Udell, CEO of London Jewelers, was elected secretary; and David Tearle, chief financial officer of GIA, was elected treasurer.
On March 19, at JSA’s annual luncheon, held at the New York Yacht Club Club, the group’s president, John Kennedy, gave its Industry Service Award to Susan M. Jacques, president and CEO of GIA.
Kennedy noted that GIA had long provided free, in-depth training classes on gemology and the jewelry industry for federal and local law enforcement personnel for many years, which have helped solve jewelry-related crimes.
JSA also presented the 23rd Annual James B. White Award to Law Enforcement to Robert Lanier, a detective with the Miami Beach Police Department. Lanier, a 32-year department veteran, has investigated numerous violent jewelry store robberies and attacks on traveling jewelry salespeople. He has also led or participated in many RICO cases resulting in the arrests of numerous jewelry criminals and participated in undercover work related to the JIS Shows in Miami Beach, Fla.
(Photo courtesy of Jewelers Board of Trade)
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