Take Note

• The Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America (DMIA) elected Ronald (Ronnie) VanderLinden as president of its board of directors. VanderLinden will replace Ronald (Ronny) Friedman, who held the position for the past nine years.

• The Ethisphere Institute named the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as one of the 2013 “World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies” in recognition of its efforts to ensure the public’s trust in gems and jewelry. The Ethisphere Institute is a global think-tank dedicated to promoting best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anticorruption and sustainability.
The GIA announced that its Graduate Jeweler (GJ) and Jewelry Design & Technology (JDT) courses have been fully updated and all GJ course materials are available on iPads. GJ and JDT classrooms have also been remodeled to accommodate the latest manufacturing technology. The next GJ course will begin in Carlsbad, California on May 16 and the next JDT course on May 23. Students can apply now. Both programs will be offered at GIA’s New York campus in 2014.
The GIA relaunched its website, which gives clients secure online access to their GIA identification and grading reports with the enhanced GIA Report Check service. Further enhancements will be introduced in the spring.
The GIA also revised the format for its gem identification and grading reports. The new format uses less paper and offers enhanced security features, including a unique and durable proprietary paper, that exceed document security industry guidelines. Quick response (QR) codes printed on each report will verify the document’s authenticity through direct access to GIA’s online Report Check service that now includes all GIA grading and identification reports. There is also a new, streamlined process for consumers and occasional laboratory clients to submit gems for grading and identification services.
The GIA introduced a free, interactive diamond app for Android phones, iPhones and iPads available in both English and Simplified Chinese.

• The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) announced that Phyllis Bergman, president of Mercury Ring Corporation, a division of Interjewel USA, Inc., New York, was elected chair of its board of directors. Richard Weisenfeld, Pranda North America, Inc., Cranston, Rhode Island was elected first vice-chairman and Todd Wolleman, Leo Wolleman, Inc. New York was elected second vice-chairman.

• The board of directors of HRD Antwerp appointed Serge Couvreur as its general manager. He will succeed Georges Brys, who held the position for six years.

• Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company appointed Paul J. Fuhrman as CFO. Furhman, a CPA and Associate in Insurance and Finance (AIAF), has senior-level financial management experience in the insurance industry and was most recently vice president, financial reporting and controller at SFM Mutual Insurance Company in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Mutual Insurance Company, based in Neenah, Wisconsin, celebrated its 100th anniversary on March 12 with a proclamation from George D. Scherck, the city’s mayor, and Governor Scott Walker.

• David Chu was appointed the new CEO of Georg Jensen, the Danish-based luxury silver, jewelry and watch design company. Chu is cochair of the board of directors and chief creative officer and will continue to serve as both in addition to CEO. In 1983, Chu founded Nautica, the clothing brand and was also the chief creative officer at Tumi, the luggage and travel brand.

• Russia’s government nominated seven representatives and three independent candidates to the supervisory board of ALROSA. The independent candidates include Sergei Dubinin, the chairman of the supervisory board at VTB (bank), Pavel Borodin, vice president, Vimpelcom and Alexander Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE). Representatives renominated include Ilya Yuzhanov, the current chairman of ALROSA’s supervisory board; Fyodor Andreyev, ALROSA’s president; Sergei Barsukov, department director at the Finance Ministry and EBRD director from Russia and Denis Morozov, the former head of MMC Norilsk Nickel and Uralkali. Newcomers to the list of government representatives are Yury Voytsekhovsky, former chief of Russia’s Standard Bank and the head of Astor Capital; Igor Kozlov, the executive director for strategy, investments and communications at Uralsib and Oleg Fyodorov, advisor to the head of Russia’s Federal Property Agency (Rosimushchestvo).*

• The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (UPSTO) granted the trademark “AC Zuckerman Jewelers” to AC Zuckerman Jewelers Inc. of Mequon, Wisconsin. The trademark, registration number of 4297142, applies to both the company’s retail operations as well as online services.
The USPTO also granted Harry Winston Inc., the luxury division of Harry Winston Diamond Corporation, the trademark “Harry Winston Hope Collection.” The trademark, registration number of 4302682, applies to jewelry and watches.

• The Responsible Jewellery Commission (RJC) certified seven companies for having met the ethical social and environmental standards established by the RJC’s Member Certification System. The companies include: Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company, a U.S. gold metals producer, Sparsh the India-based diamond trader. Solid Gold Jewellers Pty Ltd., the Australian-based jewelry retailer, AngloGold Ashanti Australia, the Australian-based gold producer; Diamstones BVBA, an Antwerp-based diamond trader; Legor Group S.p.A., a metallurgy specialist based in Bressanvido, Italy and Ralph Lauren Watch & Jewelry Co., a joint venture between Ralph Lauren Corporation and Richemont Group.

• Jewelers of America (JA) added a jewelry jobs board to its website, www.jewelers.org, to connect employers with people searching for jobs in the jewelry industry. The service is free for jobseekers. JA is offering a special introductory discount of $50 off all 30- and 60-day job postings through April 30, using the promotional code “JAJOB50.” Members receive additional discounts.

• Gem-A awarded scholarships to two jewelry designers, Katie Jamieson and Stasia Tereszczuk, as part of the organization’s efforts to recognize design talent and support gemological education in the U.K. The scholarships are for a one-week Diamond Practical course held at Gem-A headquarters in Hatton Garden, London.

• Namakwa Diamonds announced that its North-West Operations was awarded the One Million Fatality-Free Shifts Trophy by the Department of Mineral Resources of the Government of the Republic of South Africa. This trophy is only given to companies that have no fatalities at their operations.

• CIRCA announced its new partnership in support of the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF). From now through the end of May, 2013, CIRCA will donate 10 percent of the price of all jewelry purchased from clients who mention the NOF partnership, up to $100,000. Additionally, CIRCA will provide its buying services to NOF for private jewelry selling parties at CIRCA’s private offices across the nation or at NOF-sanctioned events, where supporters can sell jewelry to benefit NOF.

• Bob Mandelkern, a past president of the Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America (DMIA), passed away. Mandelkern owned a wholesale diamond firm in New York City until his retirement in 1985.

• Christopher D. DeCapri passed away. DeCapri opened a small jewelry repair shop in 1983 and built it into Capri Jewelers, one of the top independent jewelers in Virginia.*

• Nirav Shah passed away in Antwerp. He worked at Kediam bvba, a manufacturing and trading company of rough and polished diamonds.

• Bernard Ward passed away in England. Ward, who led the Birmingham Assay Office as Assay Minister for 15 years, received the Order of the British Empire in 1999 in recognition of his service to the jewelry industry.

—Additional reporting provided by Acquire Media.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2013. To subscribe click here.

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