NCCJ to Honor Boyajian, Nordt

The Jewelry and Watch Division of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) will hold its annual dinner on Monday, Dec. 7, at the Pierre Hotel in New York.

At the dinner, Gemological Institute of America president William E. Boyajian and Paul W. Nordt III, chairman and CEO of John C. Nordt Co. Inc., Roanoke, Va., will be honored for their commitment to the industry and to humanitarian causes. Chairman of the dinner is Efraim Grinberg, president, Movado Group Inc.

NCCJ, founded in 1927 as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, is a human-relations organization that works to fight bias, bigotry, and racism in the United States through advocacy, conflict resolution, and education.

For information, contact Zita Dorn at (212) 807-8440.

Appointments

Marion H. Halfacre was appointed to the Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company board of directors. Halfacre owns Traditional Jewelers in Newport Beach, Calif., and salon stores in the Ritz Carlton Hotels in Laguna Niguel and Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Jeff Bergman has been appointed vice president and chief financial officer of Mercury Ring Corp. in Englewood, N.J. His duties will include managing day-to-day operations, regulating inventory, and overseeing technology. Bergman, the grandson of the company’s founder, Arthur Bergman, is a certified public accountant and an MBA. Previously, he was vice president of control and finance for Clover Corp., an affiliate of M. Fabrikant and Sons Inc.

Brian McCarthy is the new vice president of sales and marketing at A&Z Hayward, a division of the Allison Reed Group, a manufacturer of fine jewelry in East Providence, R.I. He will manage the sales force and direct the company’s marketing and merchandising activities. Prior to joining A&Z Hayward, McCarthy was president of CMJ Sales and Marketing Inc.; previously, he had been vice president of marketing for Colibri. He began in the jewelry industry as a product manager with the Walter E. Hayward Co., which merged with the A&Z Chain Co. in 1975 to become A&Z Hayward.

Sue Ann Newburg has been promoted to divisional merchandise manager for Coral Gables, Fla.-based Mayor’s Jewelers, a division of Jan Bell Marketing.

Al Minor has been named vice president of sales and marketing at I.B. Goodman Co. in Cincinnati. Minor, formerly of South Dakota Gold and Town & Country, has 20 years’ experience in the jewelry industry, including a background in sales management and merchandising/marketing in independent as well as corporate markets.

Michael Schwartz has been promoted to vice president of sales at Aurafin Gold Jewelry in Sunrise, Fla. Schwartz joined Aurafin in September 1996 as director of national accounts. Previously, he held managerial positions at Jan Bell Marketing and Federated Department Stores’ Abraham & Straus. In his new position, he will be responsible for department store and mass merchant accounts.

Robert Waite is the new head jewelry designer at Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City. Waite has been with the firm for four years and has 30 years’ experience as a designer and a master bench craftsman.

Douglas Hardy has been named western regional manager for Bufkor Inc. of Clearwater, Fla. Previously, he was regional supervisor at Reliable Stores Inc.

Martin DeRoy has joined Warner Jewlery Case Co. of Lawton, Okla., as vice president of marketing. DeRoy had been vice president of C3 Inc., creator of moissanite gemstones. Prior to joining C3, he was marketing director of Friedman’s Inc., where he administered the marketing program through the company’s 1992 public offering and its expansion to more than 400 stores.

Excell Manufacturing Co., a Providence, R.I., manufacturer of precious metal jewelry for the mass merchant and high-volume jeweler, has appointed Kathleen Bushy as controller/chief financial officer. She had been treasurer of Major Group Inc., a Walpole, Mass., manufacturer. Also at the company, Gerald M. Campanella has been named director of retail sales for Excell and its Ekru Division. Campanella previously owned and operated GMC Associates, specializing in marketing products to mass merchandisers and drug and food companies.

Christofle, a leading luxury tableware brand, has made two appointments. The company has named Alyson Broads as director of marketing. She will coordinate Christofle’s advertising, public relations, brochures, visual merchandising, and promotions. Prior to joining the company, she was a senior account executive at the Guild Group, a New York marketing agency; previously, she was in charge of promotional marketing activities at Lalique. Rosana T. Anger has been named manager of Pavilion Christofle in Bal Harbour, Fla. She formerly was a regional district manager at Crabtree and Evelyn.

Cartier, the international luxury-goods company, has named three account executives. Eric Sauer will cover the Mid-Atlantic region. Previously, he was district manager for Lladro USA. Anne White will cover Southern California and Nevada. She formerly was sales and promotional director for Van Cleef & Arpels in Beverly Hills, Calif. Gwen Halsted-Horne will cover the Northwest territory of the Commercial Division. Prior to her appointment, she was regional sales manager for Christofle silver.

William Walls has been named to cover the Southeast territory (Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) for W.E. Richards Co. Inc. in Attleboro, Mass. Walls has more than 20 years of retail jewelry experience, including managerial positions at Zales, Jewel Box, and Reeds Jewelers. He founded Walls Jewelry in Raleigh, N.C., and is a master bench jeweler.

Gailyn Gustafson Sanderson has joined Jewelry Appraisal Services Inc., an independent jewelry appraisal company in Houston. She received her Graduate Gemologist diploma from the Gemological Institute of America in 1990. She started her career in appraisal and valuation in Houston and moved to Maryland in 1992, where she worked in retail before starting her own appraisal company.

National Electronics Warranty, a Sterling, Va., company that provides customized product protection and related services, has made several appointments. Michael Weber has been named vice president of service/claims. Robert Silaghi is the new service claims manager. Andrew Wood has been appointed national training manager. Bill Croom has joined the company as senior sales specialist.

M. Heath Cooley has been named director of advertising and marketing at Hamilton Jewelers in Lawrenceville, N.J. She will lead the company’s advertising, public relations, and event-planning efforts and will oversee internal communications for its four locations. Previously, she was special assistant to the director of events operations at the Signature Marketing Group in Langhorne, Pa.

Mike Ludwig has been appointed to the jewelry division sales team at Grobet USA, a manufacturer of precision tools and equipment based in Carlstadt, N.J. Ludwig, who will cover the western states for Grobet, was formerly the western regional manager for Swest Inc. and has more than 30 years’ experience in the jewelry industry.

Obituaries

Kolman Vesely, 73, owner of Kolman Jewelers in Monroeville, Pa., died after a long bout with cancer on July 8. He opened Kolman Jewelers in 1971 and was named Pennsylvania Jeweler of the Year in 1987 by the Pennsylvania Jewelers Association. He was a past director of the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce. His sons, Michael and Steven, will carry on his retail business.

Meyer A. Kaplan, 76, a sales representative with more than 50 years’ service in the jewelry industry, died June 26. Shortly after returning home from World War II, he started his career in the shipping department of A. Cohen & Sons. He moved to inside sales and then pioneered the Midwest territory for the company. In 1962, he joined L. Udko & Son (later Unigem), where he worked for 26 years. He concluded his active traveling with Cordova Inc. of Flushing, N.Y., in 1996. He was a charter member of the Southwest 24 Karat Club and one of the principals of MIDAS, sponsors of the Dallas Fine Jewelry Show.

Mary Wasson Wilkinson, 96, a retired jewelry sales associate, died of heart failure July 16 in Lake Village, Ark. She was part owner of Farnsworth’s Jewelers in Greenville, Miss., where she was a buyer and sales associate for more than 25 years.

James Mellow Jr., 42, died suddenly July 10. He and his wife, Laura Kistner Mellow, owned Mellow’s, an antiques and fine jewelry business and gift shop in Honolulu, Hawaii. Previously, he worked at Liberty Foundry Co., a family-owned castings manufacturer in St. Louis.

Paul Junior Johnson, 76, died July 29 in Phoenix. He was the owner of Paul Johnson Jewelry Stores, a four-store chain, and a member of the Arizona Jewelers Association. He was a World War II Army veteran.

Norman Weinstein, 81, who operated M. Weinstein Jewelers in Beverly Hills, Calif., died May 25. His father, Morris, started the business in downtown Los Angeles.