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RAPAPORT... When the first Plumb Club Forum kicks-off in New York, during March 2008, attendees at the private event will be treated to words of wisdom from one of the most successful executive women in the United States.
Former Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO and chairman of the board, Carly Fiorina, is the first announced keynote speaker for Plumb Club Forum, which runs March 2-3. Fiorina is best known for merging rivals Compaq and HP in what was considered at the time to be a complicated and cantankerous turn for the industry.
Throughout her six-year career running HP, Fiorina, 53, was an outspoken and visible CEO across --what even today remains-- a male-dominated industry. She reinvented HP and improved profitability and revenues before the HP board ousted her in February 2005. Seventeen months later Fiorina published Tough Choices: A Memoir. Fiorina is on the board of trustees for MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology,) and the foundation board of the World Economic Forum.
In year 2001 Fiorina made the list of 30 most powerful women in the United States by Ladies' Home Journal, and in 2004 Time magazine listed her as one of the world's most influential people. Silicon Valley-based San Jose Mercury News even suggested Fiorina should consider a job inside the Beltway, but her popularity across the Valley deteriorated --with IT-professionals-- when she told Congress a job is not a given right and corporations must be free to compete by seeking talent abroad.
Plumb Club Forum runs March 2-3 and is hosted by 46 jewelry and diamond manufacturers in the United States. Plumb Club treasurer Ofer Azrielant said, "The Forum will provide a unique opportunity for jewelry industry leaders to learn from each other and a roster of high-level speakers so that we can better adapt to the rapid technological and business changes we face today. Ultimately it’s about creating a sustainable future in all aspects.”
Fiorina will address "managing change" in the age of technology. Other topics on the agenda include: Decoding Web 2.0; The Fashion Connection (how the jewelry industry can take lessons from the fashion world;) Diamonds and Gemstones (changes in the pipeline, and derivative contracts;) and corporate social responsibility.
The Gemological Institute of America will sponsor a “back-to-school” gem track that will focus on issues regarding diamond treatments, simulants and synthetics, and sources and treatments for certain colored gemstones.
On March 3, GIA will also offer hands-on classroom sessions called “Under the Microscope” to update attendees with prior gemological knowledge about how to identify new treatments and synthetics.
“The Forum is unique in that it is being hosted by the industry itself, representing leading industry manufacturers with input from an advisory board comprised of VIPs from all sectors of the fine jewelry world,” said Azrielant. “This will be an extraordinarily rich educational and networking environment.”
In addition to Plumb Club members and their invited guests, leading stakeholders in the industry, from mine executives to gem labs, industry organizations, and financial institutions, will also attend.
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