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AGS Honors Three At Circle Of Distinction Dinner | July 29, 2015 (0 comments)
New York, NY—The American Gem Society on Tuesday honored three of its own at its annual Circle of Distinction dinner, held at the historic Plaza Hotel.
Fourth-generation jeweler John Green, president of Hartford, CT-based Lux Bond & Green was presented with the annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Under his leadership, the firm has grown to seven stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and has 100 employees.
Green’s good friend and fellow jeweler Lee Berg of Louisiana-based Lee Michaels introduced him, along with GIA president Susan Jacques, who praised Green’s work as chair of the GIA board of governors. Berg highlighted a lengthy list of organizations that Green has been active in, both in the industry and in his hometown.
“I’m tired!” joked Berg after reading the exhaustive list.
“I’m tired too!” laughed Green when he took the podium. With his characteristic sense of humor, Green told the audience that when he got the call telling him he had been selected to receive the award, the first thing he did was run to the mirror to see if he was really old enough for a lifetime achievement award.
“I’m older than my kids think,” he laughed. The jewelry industry is in his blood and his family’s blood, he said. He began working at Lux, Bond & Green at age seven, gift-wrapping purchases. “I’ll still gift-wrap your purchase!” he chuckled. Green met his wife, Norma Jean, at GIA when both were students. She also came from a jewelry family but Green said he lured her away from her family’s Texas store because “fourth generation beats third generation.”
“I’m so blessed. I get to play with gems every day, and I’ve been able to travel to diamond mines, to Basel, to Botswana, to watch factories, and more,” he said. Sitting on so many industry boards has given him lifelong friends. He joked about how he and Lee Berg have traveled together so often they are known as "Greenberg." After thanking his family--mother, his late father Robert Green, also a longtime industry leader, his brother Marc and sister Candace Krause who has an advertising agency in Dallas, TX, he also pointed with pride to his and Norma Jean’s four children—the fifth generation of Lux Bond & Green Jewelers.
Georgie Gleim of Gleim the Jeweler in Palo Alto, CA, received one of AGS’s two Triple Zero awards for 2015. In her remarks, Gleim recounted how her father, Arthur Gleim, had been active in AGS and studied at GIA in Los Angeles and grew to be friends with industry legends Al Woodill, Richard T. Liddicoat, and Bob Spratford. Gleim herself joined the family business in the 1970s, and attended her first AGS Conclave when her father was president, and she recounted the early days of the AGS Young Titleholders, which she shared with leaders like John Green and Bill Farmer when they too were up and coming.
“We’re the last group to be able to say we knew Richard Liddicoat, Al Woodill, Bert Krashes, and those leaders.” She expressed great pride in seeing the AGS Young Titleholders Committee becoming active again under the leadership of Lisa Bridge of Ben Bridge Jeweler. She too counts the industry as an extended family and indeed met her husband, George, through Terry Chandler, CEO of the Diamond Council of America. Chandler and jeweler Charles Lacy both did a reading at their wedding.
AGS’s other Triple Zero Award this year went to Yancy Weinrich, senior vice president of the JCK Shows. Weinrich began her career in the jewelry industry at AGS, before moving on to other positions in the industry, culminating in her move to JCK 10 years ago.
“I remember sitting in a room with Ruth [Batson, current executive director] and [former executive director] Robert Bridel, planning the first Circle of Distinction Dinner 15 years ago. Clayton Bromberg was president of AGS and Mark Moeller of AGS Lab,” she recalled. Weinrich addressed the concern that’s been on the industry’s mind of late: “Are we doing enough to get young people interested in fine jewelry?” With their interest in all things personal, jewelry is as personal as it gets, she said.
“My 15-year-old daughter Greta is well trained. She wears jewelry every day. Now let’s get her friends interested in it!” she urged the audience.