Michael Richards (left) has been named president of Underwood’s Jewelers, the three-store chain based in Jacksonville, Fla.
He succeeds Clayton Bromberg, who will remain the retailer’s chairman. Bromberg, whose family owns Underwood’s, will continue to oversee the company’s diamond buying and traditional advertising.
Richards had been Underwood’s chief operating officer since 2018. He started with the company as a store manager in 1990, and was promoted to vice president in 2008.
He also serves as second vice president of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) and was president of the board of American Gem Society (AGS) from 2020 to 2022.
“I am so grateful to have found Clayton Bromberg and Underwood’s Jewelers 35 years ago, and it’s made all the difference in my career and in my life,” Richards tells JCK. “I’m very grateful that Clayton is staying on to answer any questions. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor, a better boss, and a better friend.”
The chain was founded in 1928 by Herbert F. Underwood as a diamond and watch store in Palatka, Fla. It expanded to Jacksonville in 1940 and consolidated its operations there a few years later.
In 1974, Underwood sold the business to Bromberg and Company, a century-old Alabama jeweler then headed by Clayton’s father, Frank. Clayton became company president and chairman in 1998.
Bromberg has served on the boards of AGS, JVC, Jewelers of America, the Florida Jewelers Association, and the Better Business Bureau. He was AGS president from 1995 until 1997. He received the AGS Triple Zero Award in 2013 and its Robert M. Shipley Award in 2004. His other honors include winning the Women’s Jewelry Association Ben Kaiser Award in 2015.
(Photos courtesy of Underwood’s Jewelers)
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