ACQUISITIONS
>>?Luxury group Kering (formerly PPR) has acquired a majority stake in the Italian jewelry firm Pomellato. Andrea Morante will remain CEO of Pomellato.
>>?Hermès has purchased a majority stake in Joseph Erard, a 125-year-old Swiss company that makes watch box cases. It previously held a minority stake in the business.
>>Canadian private equity fund Onex has purchased Nielsen Expositions, owner of the JA Show, Couture show, National Jeweler, and other properties, for $950 million.
COMING AND GOINGS
>>?The Cultured Pearl Association of America elected a new board during the 2013 JCK Las Vegas show. Peter Bazar, president of Imperial Pearl, was elected president; Aziz Basalely, president of Eliko Pearl, vice president; Jack Lynch, president of Sea Hunt Pearls, treasurer; and Anil Maloo, president of Baggins, secretary.
>>?Dominion Diamond Corp. (formerly Harry Winston) has appointed Chantal Lavoie as president and chief operating officer of the Dominion Diamond Ekati Corp. He will be responsible for the operation of the Ekati mine, which Dominion took control of in April. Lavoie is the former COO for De Beers’ Canadian mining operations.
>>?Brad Campbell, president of the 18-store Salt Lake City–based Morgan Jewelers, has resigned. The retailer has not decided if it will replace Campbell.
Helena Krodel
>>LuxeIntelligence, a branding consultancy, has named Helena Krodel vice president of communications. She is a veteran of the Jewelry Information Center and Studio PR.
>>?Tiffany & Co. has appointed Anthony Ledru senior vice president for North America. Ledru has spent much of his career in the luxury industry, first with Cartier in Latin America and the United States, then with Harry Winston International in New York City as global vice president of sales.
>>?New York City–based Jacob & Co. announced the appointment of former Circa CEO Chris Del Gatto to the position of CEO during the Baselworld fair. Jacob & Co. founder Jacob (“Jacob the Jeweler”) Arabo now will serve as chairman.
>>Zale Corp. has named Richard Golden senior vice president of real estate. Golden brings more than 20 years of experience to his new role, most recently serving as director of real estate, development, and land acquisition at H-E-B Grocery Co.
>>?Antiquorum Auctioneers has appointed David Jarrett horological consultant to Antiquorum USA. Jarrett began his career in horology at Patek Philippe in 1991.
Mindy Meads
>>Blue Nile has appointed Mindy Meads to its board of directors. Meads, a 35-year veteran of the apparel industry, previously served as co-CEO of clothing brand Aéropostale.
>>?New York City–based jewelry company Timeless Designs has appointed Victor Suarez COO.
>>Joshua J Fine Jewelry has appointed Michael Newman director of sales for the Western United States. Newman has 25 years of experience in the jewelry and diamond industry, and spent the past 11 years working for Precision Set.
>>?Charles & Colvard has appointed former Zale Corp. executive Steven M. Larkin COO. Larkin resigned from Charles & Colvard’s board of directors, where he had served since February 2011.
>>?Sterling Jewelers has promoted Dave Bailey to vice president of IT infrastructure and operations and Anne Lynett Clark to the newly created role of vice president of media and advertising.
>>?Manila-based pearl brand Jewelmer has appointed Joseph Meli, previously of Bagués-Masriera, to the position of operations director for the Americas.
>>?Stéphane Linder has been appointed the new CEO of watch brand TAG Heuer. Currently Linder is TAG’s vice president of sales for North America. He replaces Jean-Christophe Babin, who has moved to Bulgari.
REMEMBERED
>>?Francis J. “Frank” Mastoloni, a longtime pearl dealer and former president of the Cultured Pearl Association of America, died May 9 at age 87.
>>?Robert (Bobby) L. Chance Jr., owner of W.R. Chance Diamond Jewelers in Annapolis, Md., died June 5 at age 70.
>>?Joseph (Joe) Tenhagen, associate director of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers and a longtime appraiser and consultant to the gem business, died April 27 at age 79.
>>?Longtime West Palm Beach, Fla., jeweler Robert (Bob) Bechtel died May 25 at age 91. After serving as a radio operator during World War II, Bechtel joined the family business, Bechtel Jewelers, established in 1930 by his father. His son now continues the business into the third generation.
Alexander Hasenfeld
>>?Alexander Hasenfeld, founder of the respected New York City diamond company Hasenfeld-Stein, died June 6 at age 88.
>>?Dr. Louis J. Castiglione Jr., 68, owner of Castiglione Jewelers in Gloversville, N.Y., died June 8 after battling cancer.
GIVING
>>?Jewelry Television raised $80,000 for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement during February. The company designated February “Love Your Heart” month through a multimedia campaign raising awareness about the risk of heart disease.
HONORED
>>?The American Gem Society will recognize the 2013 Circle of Distinction Honorees on July 30 at New York City’s Plaza Hotel. Beryl Raff, chairman and CEO of Helzberg Diamonds, will receive the Lifetime Achievement award. The group will present its Triple Zero awards to Howard Hauben, CEO of Centurion, and to the Bromberg family of Alabama’s Bromberg Jewelers and Florida’s Underwood Jewelers.
>>?The World Diamond Council and World Jewellery Confederation honored Moti Ganz, chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies, with the first-ever Order of Merit Award at the WDC and CIBJO meetings in Tel Aviv on May 6.
ZFolio’s Michael Mendizza and Zdena Jiroutova and JCK’s Lars Parker-Myers
>>The Design Center at JCK Las Vegas held its 10th annual Designer Retailer Awards on June 2 at JCK Las Vegas. First place went to ZFolio Gallery in Monterey, Calif.; I. Gorman Jewelers in Washington, D.C., and Worthmore Jewelers in Atlanta took second and third. For the full list of 2013’s Top 50 Designer Retailers, visit jckonline.com.