Representatives of the American Gem Society will honor the winner of the 2007 American Gem Society Lifetime Achievement Award, Nathan R. Light, as well as the Triple Zero Award honorees in the retail and industry categories, Ellen Lacy and Tom Moses, respectively. Awards will be given at the American Gem Society’s eighth annual Circle of Distinction award dinner, July 31, in the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Tickets are available; contact AGS at 702.255.6500.
Light receives the AGS Lifetime Achievement Award for his impeccable service to the jewelry industry, outstanding leadership, and the lasting contributions he has made to his community.
Light currently leads a consultancy organization, Light Communications, where he and his business partner and wife, Pattie, provide counsel to various business as well as private jewelry clientele, including Hearts on Fire, where he serves as a member of their advisory board.
Light has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his illustrious career, including the Retail Hall of Fame Award, as well as various honors from the Anti-Defamation League, Brandeis University, and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. During Light’s nearly 20-year tenure with Sterling Jewelers, he developed “A Party With A Purpose” raising millions for charity and establishing a sustainable model for philanthropy within the jewelry industry. Light’s wife and five children have all been involved in the jewelry industry, representing positions of leadership in retail, manufacturing, and the trade.
Lacy, of Lacy & Co., receives the American Gem Society Triple Zero Award in the retail category.
Quite literally growing up in the family owned jewelry store founded by her father in Del Rio, Texas, Lacy selected her first sterling flatware pattern at 8 years of age before moving on to mastering the store’s first Gemscope. From the start, Lacy was destined for a successful career in the retail jewelry industry – both working in her father’s store in Del
Rio and running her own store with her husband Charles. Due to its frequent change in locations in Texas, Lacy & Co. has earned the nickname, “the store on wheels” moving from Del Rio to Abilene to its current location in El Paso.
A Certified Gemologist Appraiser, past president of the AGS International Board of Directors, member of the National Jewelers Hall of Fame, and recently recognized as one of the best jewelry and watch retailers in the America by Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Lacy is quick to note that, “none of this would have happened without Charles at my side.”
Moses receives the American Gem Society Triple Zero Award in the industry category.
Recognized as one of the jewelry industry’s most respected and accomplished gemologists, Moses earned his Graduate Gemologist degree in 1977 while working at the Gemological Institute of America’s Santa Monica, Calif., laboratory before transferring to the GIA laboratory in New York in 1988 to serve as understudy to Crowningshield. In 1988, Moses was appointed vice president of Identification Services, and in 2003, named vice president of Identification and Research Services. During his career, he headed the Institute’s more critical research projects and co-authored many articles for Gems & Gemology, a GIA publication. In 2005, Moses was named senior vice president of the GIA Laboratory and Research, and now oversees all GIA laboratory and research operations worldwide. Moses is a past recipient of the Richard T. Liddicoat Award for Distinguished Achievement.
“The recipients of this year’s Lifetime Achievement and Triple Zero awards all share a profound commitment to this industry, to education, leadership, and community – tenants of the American Gem Society,” said Ruth Batson, AGS executive director and chief executive officer.
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