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Profile: Ruth Batson
Jun 22, 2014 2:06 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... The American Gem Society (AGS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1934 with the goal of protecting jewelry consumers from fraud and false advertising, and promoting the jewelry trade. Ruth Batson began working for AGS as its comptroller and was named its CEO in 2002.
 Name: Ruth Batson
From: United States
Company: American Gem Society – CEO
Rapaport News: How did you come to work at AGS and how do you approach your work there?
RB: My background is in accounting and I happened to come across the AGS back in 1993 when they relocated from California to Las Vegas. I was then hired as their comptroller.
The AGS is the only organization I have worked for in the jewelry industry and I have spent my entire career there. I worked my way up to chief financial officer (CFO) and then became CEO in 2002. In 2012, I also took over as the CEO of AGS Laboratories, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AGS.
The AGS is a non-profit organization that is essentially owned by its members and governed by a board of volunteers, headed by a board president who is elected every two years.
My philosophy is to approach what we do for the industry in three ways: We should have infinite gratitude for all things past, which means that we are grateful for all the decisions that were made by previous AGS volunteers and recognize that they worked with the best of intentions. We should provide infinite service to the present, which means this is our time to give everything we have to the organization to help it succeed. Finally, we should accept infinite responsibility for the future, which entails recognition that the decisions we make at AGS will affect people for years to come. That is a huge responsibility because we want to leave AGS in the best possible place.
Rapaport News: What does the AGS do and who are its members?
RB: The AGS is an 80-year-old professional society. Its primary role is to protect consumers who make fine-jewelry purchases and does so by issuing credentials to jewelers and jewelry manufacturers – though primarily to retail jewelers. These professional credentials signify that the jeweler has met a certain level of education and has agreed to abide by a code of ethics. Members agree to learn and understand the AGS grading system for diamonds and each of our members are recertified annually to make sure that they stay on top of their game – whether it’s regarding gemology, trends in the industry or sales and marketing.
We estimate that 5 percent of U.S. retail jewelers are members. We have 1,700 member locations, mostly in North America. We have a number of larger chains that are members but most are mom-and-pop shops, independent family-owned jewelers. We also have a few members who are suppliers, wholesalers or industry support service providers like jewelry insurance companies.
We also have the laboratory. AGS has always been committed to assessing all of a diamond’s qualities, including cut. The lab was created to provide AGS with additional revenue but also so that we could issue a cut grade for diamonds.
We were one of the first labs to do so when we created our own diamond grading standards back in the 1960s. It was a proportion-based cut-grade system and used a scale of zero to 10, with zero representing the best cut grade. Over time that morphed into the light performance technology that we use now for assessing cut.
Initially we didn't have enough money to fund a start-up company like the lab was at the time. So we took on partners, consisting of a number of AGS members, who invested in the business. In 2012 we were finally able to fulfill our desire of full ownership of the lab.
Rapaport News: Is AGS membership individual or store-based?
RB: It’s both, and this is one of the safeguards that our founder Robert Shipley, who also founded the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), put into place. Each company must pass the overall membership application process. However, every firm must also employ an individual who holds AGS credentials. The two can never be disconnected. If the firm drops out of the AGS, the individual loses their title, and if the individual leaves the company they must go to an AGS member firm to keep the title.
Rapaport News: What added value does AGS provide its members?
RB: Jewelers can use their AGS credentials to demonstrate to their customers why it is a good idea to shop with them. The credentials assure that the jeweler is knowledgeable, ethical and is constantly staying up-to-date about the jewelry industry.
We are also making an effort online to inform consumers about the importance of shopping with an AGS jeweler. Last year, our website had 7.9 million unique visitors, of which 300,000 used our search function to look for an AGS member jeweler in their respective locations. We also communicate with over 200,000 customers through our other social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and our blog.
Secondly, AGS is a community that enables invaluable networking opportunities for our members. We have members who have forged friendships from all over the country and across generations. It is a real, close community where people learn from each other.
One of our largest benefits is our annual conclave where we have our annual membership meeting and also provide educational breakout sessions during a three and half day period.
Rapaport News: How is the state of the U.S. jewelry market in 2014?
RB: What I’m discovering from our members is that things are promising for U.S. retail jewelers, although challenges remain, particularly regarding consumer confidence. Jewelers have to make sure they can answer tough questions about supply chain issues.
One of the biggest challenges for our jewelers in the next couple of years will be marketing to millennials – people born in the '80s and '90s. This generation learns about products and purchasing through unconventional ways like peer-reviews, social media and blogs.
I've been told that millennials are not joiners, that they won’t come to face-to-face meetings and that they prefer to interact, even with organizations like AGS, online and sporadically. However, in the past two years, we’ve focused on growing our young membership base and we found that the more you allow them to meet and mingle and learn from one another, the more engaged they become.
Our young titleholder group is actually doing more than any other committee that we have. They definitely have different ways to communicate. They have their own Facebook page, do webinars and have GoTo meetings. They have their own blog and they help us write our blog for the consumer. They’re very passionate and I think the trick is to find ways to engage them.
Millennials want to have an emotional connection to their jewelry, whether it is a refurbished piece that belonged to their grandmother, or if it comes from a location where they can identify with the story of how that gemstone got onto their finger.
We’re also seeing that accurate and timely grading by laboratories is an important issue, which proves that there is a lot of interest in AGS’s lab service. Walking around the JCK Las Vegas shows I felt as if we are the prettiest girl at the dance right now. People want to talk to us, and it hasn't always been that way. We are a small lab, but we are consistent, accurate and committed to our five-to-seven day turnaround time.
Rapaport News: How have the smaller, independent jewelers fared since 2008?
RB: We are on the high-end, luxury retail end of the industry and we did lose some members since 2008, but not many. We tend to have the more successful jewelers at AGS and many of them have picked up market share and are having great years.
I think everybody is doing business in a different way than they did five or six years ago. Businesses are doing more to reach out to millennials and find ways to differentiate themselves.
Rapaport News: What role does the Internet play in how diamonds and jewelry are sold? Are online retailers influencing the way consumers are buying?
RB: Most jewelry purchases start online but don't end there. They tend to conclude in a face-to-face meeting with a jeweler over a sales counter. So we try to ensure that when a consumer goes online and is directed to the AGS website that we can guide them.
We spend a lot of money on search engine optimization to steer consumers to our website and provide information about diamonds and diamond buying with the end goal of having them look for an AGS-accredited jeweler in their area.
We also provide special added-value tools to our members such as the Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool (ASET), which is a counter-top piece of equipment that shows a consumer the light performance of a diamond they are viewing. That’s something that you can’t do online and is only available to our members.
Rapaport News: What advice do you give to someone who is looking to start out in the diamond or jewelry industries?
RB: Find ways to get involved with organizations like AGS where you can meet people in the industry who are what you aspire to be because they will help you on your way. Networking is critical to success and so is education, which is what our conclave aims to achieve.
Rapaport News: How do you see the AGS evolving over the next five to 10 years?
RB: Our lab is going to grow and we are going to use the proceeds from that growth to create even more programs and services for our members. That includes better speakers at our conclaves and more marketing to consumers. As a result, our membership will grow.
I think realistically, we have 5 percent of the market right now in terms of our members and it would be great if we could double our size to 10 percent.
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