80-87 Feat Power Base.indd

Transcription

Power List 2013
20
Under
They’re 40 or younger
and they’ve accomplished
more than many people
twice their age. Introducing
the best and brightest this
business has to offer.
40
Around the office, we’ve taken to calling them
youngsters. But that’s a little misleading. (A few
wouldn’t be eligible if we made this list in 2014!)
In an industry ruled by a rather, ahem,
seasoned coterie of executives, we wanted
to shine a spotlight on the next generation
of decision-makers. They’re publicists,
bloggers, retailers, designers, trade-show
organizers, marketers, and manufacturers, but they've got
a few things in common: They know their way around the
social Web, and they're brighter than the jewels they sell/
promote/produce. Just try to keep up with them. We dare you.
Lita Asscher, 35
President
Royal Asscher America
New York City
Lita Asscher says her father, Dutch diamantaire Edward Asscher, told her: “Go
learn someone else’s mistakes before
you learn mine.” So after university in
Amsterdam, she spent six years in sales
at Dell and in 2004 became the sixth
generation of her family to join Royal
Asscher. One of her first moves: changing its business model. “I said to my father and uncle: I never met a woman
that walks into a jewelry store and puts a diamond on her hand,” she says.
“That is when we started the engagement ring line and went from a diamond
company to a diamond and jewelry company.” She also brought in a trick she
learned at Dell—a “power hour,” where people do nothing but call clients—and
a passion for ethics; Royal Asscher is setting up a charity foundation.
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JCK APRIL 2013 jckonline.com
Ryan Berg, 39
Market president
Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry
Baton Rouge, La.
scott Berg, 36
Market president
Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry
Baton Rouge, La.
The Berg family charter says those hoping to join the nine-store chain must
first work somewhere else. “It gives you
humility,” says Ryan Berg. “When you’re
in the family business, you're always going to be the boss’ son.” After getting
their feet wet at companies ranging from Zale to Mayor's, Ryan and sibling
Scott joined Lee Michaels and now serve as market presidents. They've also
followed in the footsteps of father Lee by volunteering for industry associations. Their dad “is a great role model,” says Scott. “There hasn’t been a question where he’s said, ‘I haven’t seen that.’ ”
Marc Bridge, 29
Vice president, marketing
Ben Bridge Jeweler
Seattle
Amanda Gizzi, 33
Director of communications
Jewelers of America
New York City
Marc Bridge has a law degree and
even worked for the Washington State
Supreme Court. But it didn’t take him
long to realize that the law wasn’t for
him. “On a good day in the law business, you get maybe one person who
goes away happy,” he says. “With
jewelry, when we do our job right, we
have everyone smiling on the way out.” And so he moved to his family’s
70-store chain, starting as the company’s associate general counsel. But he
soon moved to marketing and never looked back. “I read contracts every
once in a while but not a whole lot,” he says. “One of the joys of a family business is that whatever needs doing, you end up doing it.”
Eleven years ago, Amanda Gizzi replied
to an ad in The New York Times—“the
paper New York Times,” she notes—to
work as a public relations assistant at
the Jewelry Information Center. She’s
been there ever since. (JA merged with
JIC in 2009.) Her job includes promoting
the industry to consumers in print, over
the Internet, and on TV—as well as organizing events like the GEM Awards
and JA’s annual fine jewelry preview for editors. While she never set out to
work in the trade, Gizzi now considers it a natural fit. “I had a grandmother
whose dresser was filled with jewelry,” she says. “I always played with it. So
even though I didn’t grow up in the industry, my grandmother supported it.”
Benjamin Clymer, 30
Founder
Hodinkee.com
New York City
Daniel Gordon, 40
President
Samuel Gordon Jewelers
Oklahoma City
In 2008, Benjamin Clymer, a strategic
consultant for UBS, looked at the vintage Omega on his wrist and decided to
blog about it. Clymer’s Tumblr grew so
quickly that he soon left the Swiss bank
to write full-time about Swiss watches
for Hodinkee.com, a name he came up
with by typing wristwatch into Google’s
translator. (The Czech word hodinky had the best ring.) Now, he and his fourperson staff are pioneering a visionary editorial-commerce business model
with a series of pop-up events to sell secondhand timepieces, plus collaborations with Gilt and Drake’s of London. “We’re doing something nobody else is
doing online,” Clymer says, “and the Swiss are starting to understand that.”
Daniel Gordon is perhaps best known to
JCK readers as a social-network animal;
at press time, he'd racked up 123,848
tweets and probably sent four more
as you were reading this. Yet he insists
his natural place is at a counter, not a
computer. His father and grandmother
welcomed him to the family store on his
23rd birthday by surprising him with a freshly printed box of business cards.
He then formalized its buying, reorganized its operations, and vastly improved
its technology. It’s one of the few jewelry stores with an app, plus a blog and
a presence on every social platform imaginable. “When I started, there was
no computer, no Internet,” Gordon says. “In three years, everything changed.”
Jennifer Gandia, 38
Co-owner
Greenwich Jewelers
New York City
Manhattan is home to an avalanche of
fabulous jewelry stores, from the venerated to the cutting-edge. But downtown's Greenwich Jewelers has stood
out since Jennifer Gandia and Christina
Gandia Gambale took over the 39-yearold shop from their parents in 2011. Jennifer oversees its impeccably curated
mix of high-end bridal (Anne Sportun, Mark Schneider), fashion (Alexis Bittar, Ben-Amun), and custom fine jewelry designs. “We debuted [fashion] lines
at a time when fashion jewelry became so much a part of our vocabulary,”
says Jennifer. “We were so much ahead of the curve on that.” She was also one
of the first indie jewelers, in the early 2000s, to tap into the power of social
media—and remains one of the savviest online jewelry marketers in the biz. Eric Grossberg, 36
Cofounder
Brilliant Earth
San Francisco
Stanford University grad Eric Grossberg
cofounded Brilliant Earth in 2005 to
bring global ethics to the jewelry industry. Specializing in responsibly sourced
jewels, the boutique/custom design firm
tracks its stones to ensure they’ve been
mined, cut, and finished in socially and
environmentally responsible ways; uses
recycled gold and platinum exclusively; and partners with advocacy groups
to promote awareness about conflict diamonds, labor and mining issues, and
environmental concerns in the industry. “Eric is truly exceptional at creating
a vision of a more ethical, transparent, and sustainable jewelry industry,” says
his Brilliant Earth partner, Beth Gerstein. “From the ground up, he has built an
emotionally resonant brand that connects with a compassionate consumer.” jckonline.com JCK APRIL 2013 ◆ 81
Power List 2013
Greg Kwiat, 35
CEO
Fred Leighton
New York City
Russell Kwiat, 33
Partner
Kwiat
New York City
Greg Simonian, 28
President
Westime
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Ivanka Trump, 31
Founder
Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry Collection
New York City
Greg Kwiat came to his family firm after
five years working in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. (“It was a very
different world,” he says.) He now runs Fred Leighton, the respected estate
dealer and retailer the Kwiats purchased in 2009. Younger brother Russell,
meanwhile, started right out of college, when he “fell in love with diamonds,”
getting involved in everything from sales to marketing to sorting. “I think the
industry has a lot of opportunity for young people,” Russell says. “You just
have to discover for yourself what it is.”
Show her your rings! Danielle Miele
wants to see pics of your fingers stacked
with band upon band—as do her 900+
Facebook fans, 5,400+ Twitter followers,
and loyal readers of her 5-year-old blog,
Gem Gossip. Retailers Doyle & Doyle and
Catbird have submitted snaps; designers Atelier Minyon and Jemma Wynne have given her their digits. “No one
in my family is in jewelry. I taught myself in the beginning,” says Miele, who
also posts interviews with designers and photos of cool new pieces—particularly vintage. (She appraises jewels and apprentices to the owner at Walton’s
Antique and Estate Jewelry in Franklin, Tenn.) Now, she’s got her own line of
rings ($600–$1,700), a GIA degree in the works, and—wait for it!—150 rings.
Greg Simonian was 10 years old when
he sold his first watch at his father’s Los
Angeles Swatch store. “Every model had
its own name and SKU and I memorized
all of them,” he recalls. After high school,
he worked at Longines and Blancpain in
Switzerland, but in 2010, the family business—which his father, John, had built into one of the West Coast’s premier
watch retailers—pulled him in. Westime now operates five locations under
Greg’s stewardship, including a new flagship on Sunset Boulevard (see Store
We Adore, page 60). Simonian admits he’s at his clients’ beck and call—not
that it fazes him. “I thought I didn’t want a job that you take home with you,”
he says. “Now, that seems ridiculous because it means you’re not enjoying it.”
Surely Ivanka Trump was born with
the big business gene. But only three
years after debuting her elegant Ivanka
Trump Fine Jewelry Collection, the line
has become a staple at dozens of indie
and big-box jewelry retailers—including
Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom—in the
United States and abroad. The jewelry is stylish and trend-right, but never at
the expense of classic good taste. And Trump’s down-to-earth attitude is as
much an asset as her last name. “She came in when she was pregnant and
introduced herself to everyone,” says a staffer at Long’s Fine Jewelers in Burlington, Mass., which stocks the line. “We thought she would show up with an
entourage. She came by on the train with her husband like any other person.”
Matt Lauzon, 28
Chairman
Gemvara
Boston
Michelle Orman, 38
President
Last Word Communications
New York City
Paul Tacorian, 37
President, sales and marketing
Tacori Enterprises
Glendale, Calif.
Scott Udell, 29
Founder
TWO by London
Manhasset, N.Y.
Matt Lauzon got interested in jewelry
when a friend, who had family in the
business, told him it was undergoing
massive change. The young entrepreneur smelled an opportunity, and while
still in college, the two founded Paragon
Lake, which sold custom pieces through
computer terminals in retail outlets. In
2009, the business became Gemvara, selling what it calls “customer-designed
jewelry” over the Internet. Lauzon serves as chairman after several years as
CEO; he is scouting new opportunities, but hints that he might do more in
jewelry: “That my business was able to get off the ground says to me there
are people who are innovative and want to make sure it continues to thrive.”
Jewelry “wasn’t really a focus” in Michelle
Orman's hometown, Mankato, Minn. (a
small town that made a few cameos in
Little House on the Prairie). “You maybe
wore it to the prom,” she says. But while
working her way through college bartending, a customer told her about an
internship at Seiko. From there she went
to the Jewelry Information Center, which led to opening her own PR firm. She
now spreads the word about designers, companies, and groups such as the
Women’s Jewelry Association. “I love that you have personal relationships,”
she says. “The friends I see on a day-to-day basis are from the industry. If I
had not joined the jewelry industry, I would have a dull social life.”
When Paul Tacorian joined the company founded by his Romanian immigrant parents in 1997, it consisted of
four people. The next year, the jeweler
developed its famed Tacori Crescent.
Then, Tacorian, who'd studied sales and
marketing in college, looked to expand
Tacori's reach. “We were one of the first
brands to branch out of bridal magazines and into fashion magazines,” he
says. Its next big breakthrough was being featured in the 2003 wedding of
Bachelor stars Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter. Today, Tacori is far bigger and
higher-profile, but Tacorian hasn’t forgotten his roots: “You get to work with
your family; my best friend is the SVP of sales. It’s a good place to be.”
Taking the intimidation out of jewelry
buying is the mission behind TWO by
London, the nearly 2-year-old shop
tucked inside London Jewelers on New
York’s Long Island. Scott Udell, a fourthgeneration family owner of London
Jewelers, opened the sleek store to, as
he says, “get a younger demographic.”
The bridal-only boutique features large computer screens playing video
tutorials on diamond quality and decor akin to a feminized Apple store. Six
months after TWO by London’s opening, Hearts On Fire debuted its digitally
savvy concept stores targeting younger shoppers. But Udell—very much a
part of the generation to which he’s marketing—was there first.
Jonathan Mervis was an undergrad
when he started Crooked Monkey, a
line of humorous T-shirts that found its
way to Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor. Yet
his jeweler-father asked: “Why are you
working so hard to sell one T-shirt? You
can make much more on a diamond.”
Eventually Mervis sold his share of
Crooked Monkey and joined his family’s D.C.-area three-store chain. Despite
working there for almost four years, he still sees himself as an outsider, looking at the operation with fresh eyes. “The more you uncover about a business, the more you uncover cobwebs, old systems,” he says. “But then you find
some real gems. We have boxes and boxes of letters from customers. Who
has ever written Blue Nile a handwritten letter? Why don't we promote this?”
◆
John Tierney, 37
Industry vice president
LUXURY and Swiss Watch at JCK
Reed Exhibitions
Norwalk, Conn.
Michael Schechter, 33
Digital marketing director
Honora
New York City
For a self-professed “tech geek,” joining the family pearl business seems like
an odd choice. But Michael Schechter
wanted to be in jewelry since childhood,
and he’s certainly managed to marry
his twin passions. As Honora’s resident
Internet guru, he frequently speaks and
writes (for JCK, among others) about
the need for jewelers to become more digitally savvy. He admits when he first
started touting social networks people saw them as a waste of time. “Now I
think people realize that, like the telephone and email, this is not going away,”
he says. And yet, for someone who’s so linked to the “new world,” what he likes
most about this business is its old-world flavor. “It’s so relationship-based,” he
says. “There’s so much trust in a handshake. That’s always appealed to me.”
TRUMP: CRAIG BARRITT/GETTY IMAGES
Jonathan Mervis, 29
Director of business development
Mervis Diamond Importers
Washington, D.C.
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Danielle Miele, 28
Founder
GemGossip.com
Nashville, Tenn.
John Tierney remembers his first JCK
Las Vegas show in 2002. “It was a pretty
overwhelming experience,” he says.
“You could see the energy, the passion, the intensity, so many different
organizations, companies. You were
watching the industry come together in
a dynamic way.” Tierney started with Reed Exhibitions in 1999, shortly after
college. Three years later, he moved to the JCK show; about a decade after
that, he took over the LUXURY and Swiss Watch portfolios. Now he can’t
imagine working on an event in any other field. “You don’t see many industries these days that are comprised of so many small businesses, so many
family businesses,” he says. “I feel I’m a part of the industry.”
Alex Woo, 39
Founder
Alex Woo Inc.
New York City
How do you know you’ve made it as a
New York City designer? When your
pieces pop up on a signature I-heartNY show—like Alex Woo’s did on every
season of Gossip Girl. “Almost every
female character wore at least one of
my designs,” says Woo, whose Little Letter pendant has a recurring role on The
CW’s NYC-themed The Carrie Diaries. A onetime JCK show Design Center Rising Star (and JCK Rock Star runner-up!), Woo grew up with a bench jeweler
father. But it was a 1998 Women’s Jewelry Association contest that inspired
her to create her own collection. “I won the grand prize—competing with professional designers from all across the country,” she recalls. “That gave me a
vote of confidence.” And if you make it here, well, you can make it anywhere.
jckonline.com JCK APRIL 2013 ◆ 83
Power List 2013
Ruediger “Rudy” Albers
Fyodor Andreev
Bernard Arnault
84
1. Ruediger “Rudy” Albers
President
American Wempe Corp.
Business is booming at Albers’ boutique
on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, where the
inventory of prestigous timepiece brands
reads like a veritable who’s-who of the
watch business.
2. Fyodor Andreev
President and CEO
Alrosa
While De Beers may have reclaimed the
mantle of the world’s largest diamond
producer, the comparatively low-profile
Alrosa stands a close second.
3. Bernard Arnault
CEO, LVMH
One of the world’s richest men, Arnault
has built LVMH into a luxury colossus
that keeps expanding its presence in our
industry; in the last few years alone, he’s
gobbled up Bulgari, Hublot, and Swiss
dial maker ArteCad.
Donna Baker
4. Donna Baker
President
Gemological Institute of America
GIA remains the leading lab in the diamond trade, and its research and education still set the standards for the gemological world.
Michael Barnes
5. Michael Barnes
CEO
Sterling Jewelers
Barnes heads what is arguably the most
successful jewelry chain in the world;
with his purchase of outlet chain Ultra
Stores, he has shown he’s not afraid to
make bold moves.
◆
Robert Gannicott
7. David J. Bonaparte
President and CEO
Jewelers of America
As the recently appointed leader of
America’s preeminent jewelry organization, Bonaparte is dedicating himself to
expanding its membership.
David J. Bonaparte
Henry Cheng
8. Henry Cheng
Executive chairman
Chow Tai Fook
By some estimates the world’s largest
jeweler, Chow Tai Fook owns 1,654 j ewelry
points of sale and 78 watch points of sale
in Hong Kong and mainland China and,
under Cheng’s direction, hopes to hit
2,000 by the end of the next fiscal year.
Mehul Choksi
9. Mehul Choksi
Chairman and managing director
Gitanjali Group
One of the Indian industry’s major manufacturers, Gitanjali also owns the 104store Samuels chain in the United States,
which last holiday announced a stunning
12 percent gain in comps.
François Curiel
Stanislas de Quercize
Peter M. Engel
10. François Curiel
President, Christie’s Asia
While 2012 didn’t see any spectacles
like the prior year’s auction of Elizabeth
Taylor’s jewelry collection, the venerable
auction house did smash several world
records and sold several notable stones,
including the 76.02 ct. D-IF Archduke
Joseph Diamond.
11. Stanislas de Quercize, CEO, Cartier
The 166-year-old French “jeweler of
kings” released a number of groundbreaking new watches at this year’s Salon
International de la Haute Horlogerie, and
last year premiered its first (two-years-inthe-making) TV commercial.
12. Peter M. Engel
CEO, Fred Meyer Jewelers
Long considered an odd fit with its parent
company—supermarket giant Kroger—
340-store Fred Meyer Jewelers has nonetheless turned into a steady performer
and America’s third-largest jewelry chain.
Cecilia Gardner
13. Robert Gannicott
President and CEO
Harry Winston (now Dominion)
Gannicott’s company may have sold its
retail arm to the Swatch Group, but its
purchase of Ekati will make it the fourthlargest diamond producer in the world—
and he’s eyeing even more acquisitions.
14. Cecilia Gardner
President, CEO, and general counsel
Jewelers Vigilance Committee
At the intersection of politics and jewelry
stands Gardner, whose job now involves
meeting with government officials at
agencies ranging from the State Department to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Ian Harebottle
G. Nicolas Hayek Jr.
15. Janet Goldman, CEO, Fragments
“The Trend Starts Here,” proclaims
Fragments’ tagline—and it usually does,
thanks to Goldman’s keen eye for designer
diamonds in the rough.
Janet Goldman
16. Jonathan Goldman
CEO, Frederick Goldman Inc.
With brother Richard, Goldman has turned
the New York City jewelry manufacturing
company into an industry power
house
with no fewer than five brands under its
umbrella: Goldman, Diana C
lassic, ArtCarved, Lyric, and Triton.
Jonathan Goldman
Laurence Graff
John and Marc Green
hayek: bloomberg/getty images
Without the 50 people
who appear on this list
(alphabetically), it’s
safe to say that the jewelry and watch trade would be
disrupted—if not made downright dysfunctional.
Ruth Batson
arnault: afp; cheng: bloomberg; de quercize: Samir Hussein, all getty images
The
Power
Base
6. Ruth Batson
Executive director and CEO
American Gem Society
Longtime head of the venerable industry group, Batson also recently took over
AGS’ well-respected diamond grading lab.
Björn Gulden
Lisa Hubbard
18. John and Marc Green
Owners, Lux Bond & Green
In addition to heading their eight-store
Connecticut chain, the brothers Green are
a potent force in industry politics: Marc is
first vice president of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee and on the board of the
Jewelers’ Security Alliance; John sits on
the Jewelers for Children and GIA boards.
19. Björn Gulden
President and CEO, Pandora
For all its ups and downs, Pandora is still
the world’s preeminent charm brand,
generating intense loyalty among consumers and jewelers alike.
21. G. Nicolas “Nick” Hayek Jr.
CEO, Swatch Group
Already the leading producer of watches
and watch movements in the world,
Swatch stunned the industry in January
by purchasing legendary retailer Harry
Winston for close to $1 billion.
22. Lisa Hubbard
Chairman, North and South America
International Jewellery, Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s jewelry department had a
record year in 2012, auctioning such
headline-making gems as a 10.48 ct. deep
blue and the legendary Beau Sancy.
23. Doug Hucker
CEO, American Gem Trade Association
As the gemstone industry grows in
importance and prominence—at least in
the United States—Hucker has played a
key role in getting the word out.
Doug Hucker
17. Laurence Graff
Cofounder and controlling shareholder,
South African Diamond Corp. (SAFDICO);
founder, Graff Diamonds Group
London dealer Graff is still a regular at the
auction houses, snatching up an impressive array of once-in-a-lifetime stones,
and his retail chain also is beginning to
make a name for itself.
20. Ian Harebottle
CEO, Gemfields
While Gemfields may or may not reach
Harebottle’s ambition of becoming the
“De Beers of gemstones,” its acquisition
of a wide range of gemstone mines as well
as storied brand Fabergé certainly have
made it a force to be reckoned with.
Susan Jacques
24. Susan Jacques
President and CEO
Borsheims
One of the few independent jewelers
owned by a conglomerate—and not just
any conglomerate, mind you, but Berkshire Hathaway—Jacques has become
an articulate spokeswoman on industry
issues and a leading behind-the-scenes
force in trade groups.
Harvey Katner
25. Harvey Katner
CEO, Blue Nile
Having taken over the industry’s leading
e-tailer, the former head of Moosejaw
Mountaineering is determined to make
his site more than just the “Amazon of
jewelry.”
John J. Kennedy
26. John J. Kennedy
President
Jewelers’ Security Alliance
No matter where you work in the
industry, security is always a concern,

and Kennedy’s organization has worked
tirelessly at keeping trade members safe
for more than a century.
jckonline.com JCK APRIL 2013 ◆ 85
Power List 2013
Michelle Obama
28. Theo Killion
CEO, Zale Corp.
After a tough few years, Killion has
put 1,770-store Zale Corp. back on the
comeback trail—and even rival Sterling
is beginning to notice.
Theo Killion
Michael Kowalski
Eddie LeVian
Kimberly McDonald
Dilip Mehta
Philippe Mellier
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◆
29. Michael Kowalski
Chairman and CEO
Tiffany & Co.
In addition to heading one of the
biggest brands in this (or any) sector,
Kowalski has transformed the
175-year-old retailer into one of the
industry's most socially conscious
companies.
30. Eddie LeVian
CEO, Le Vian Corp.
On top of being a leading manufacturer, the Great Neck, N.Y.–based
Le Vian has seen its trademark Chocolate Diamond collection become a
staple at Sterling.
31. Kimberly McDonald
Jewelry designer
She’s turned funky, forgotten rocks
like agate and geodes into celebrity
favorites. Just ask Michelle Obama,
who wore her diamond jewels to the
2013 Inaugural Ball, sending so many
fans to McDonald’s website that it
promptly crashed.
32. Dilip Mehta
CEO, Rosy Blue
Mehta’s company generally is considered one of India’s biggest diamond
manufacturers—which also means it’s
one of the world’s biggest manufacturers—and he is a frequent speaker on
industry affairs.
33. Philippe Mellier
CEO, De Beers
De Beers is no longer the superpower
it once was, but it’s still the biggest
name in the diamond business, selling
an estimated 40 percent of world
production.
Carolyn Rafaelian
Beryl Raff
Johann Rupert
39. Johann Rupert
Executive chairman
Richemont
Luxury giant Richemont owns everything from venerable jewelers such
as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels to
relative up-and-comers like luxury

dot-com Net-A-Porter.
40. Lorraine Schwartz
Jewelry designer
She’s Hollywood's new Harry Winston,
with a stream of A-listers—including
Heidi Klum, Blake Lively, and the
always-loyal Beyoncé—regularly modeling her intricate jewels on awardsshow red carpets.
46. Joanne Teichman
Owner, Ylang23.com
Aspiring jewelry designers consider her
27-year-old fashion-
forward boutique
the holy grail of retail accounts.
Joanne Teichman
47. Candy and Mark Udell
President and CEO, London Jewelers
The Glen Cove, N.Y.–based chain looms
large over indie retail through progressive merchandising and larger-thanlife marketing (e.g., creating Victoria
Secret’s $2.5 million gem-covered bra).
Candy and Mark Udell
48. Dennis Ulrich, CEO, Richline
Under the careful eye of owner Warren
Buffett, Ulrich’s middle-market giant
just keeps growing; it recently acquired
equipment manufacturer Rio Grande.
42. Russell Simmons, cofounder,
Diamond Empowerment Fund
Simmons owns a jewelry c ompany, but
he's more famous as the force behind
DEF, the glitzy charity that's backed by
everyone from De Beers on down.
Russell Simmons
36. Beryl Raff
Chairwoman and CEO
Helzberg Diamonds
Raff heads the industry’s third-largest
jewelry chain, and made waves a few
years back by joining the AGS.
Glenn Rothman
Lorraine Schwartz
Glen Senk
35. Carolyn Rafaelian
Owner
Alex and Ani
Perhaps the most notable jewelry success story of the past few years, Alex
and Ani expects to double its sales this
year and recently made a splash with
its much-buzzed-about Super Bowl ad.
37. Ippolita Rostagno
Founder and creative director
Ippolita
During the course of 14 years, the
Italian-born designer has built a
jewelry empire on an instantly recognizable (and much duplicated) signature style with wide appeal.
38. Glenn Rothman
Cofounder and CEO
Hearts On Fire
Rothman heads what is perhaps
the country's best-known diamond
brand, and he’s got aggressive plans
for a retail chain.
Ippolita Rostagno
41. Glen Senk, CEO, David Yurman
The former CEO of Urban Outfitters,
Senk surprised the business world by
jumping to the famed designer jewelry
house; a series of high-profile hires signals further expansion.
34. Michelle Obama
First lady of the United States
The fashionable FLOTUS has championed little-known contemporary
designers—from Brazilian Mary Esses
to Texas A&M grad Katie Decker—
earning major kudos from the jewelry
industry, which can’t help but love her
for the exposure.
Thierry Stern
Matt Stuller
Elliot Tannenbaum
obama: MCT; rupert: Gareth Cattermole, both getty images
Dione Kenyon
27. Dione Kenyon
President
Jewelers Board of Trade
It would be nearly impossible for a
credit-based industry such as jewelry
to function (let alone thrive) without
the JBT and its widely watched ratings and statistics.
43. Thierry Stern
President, Patek Philippe
Stern—who took the reins of the Geneva
watchmaker from his father in 2009—
has final say on which of his brand’s
timepieces end up in collector hands,
decisions that can mean millions of dollars on the secondary market.
44. Matt Stuller
Founder and chairman, Stuller
Not only do Stuller and his Louisianabased company rank as one of America’s most prominent manufacturers,
but they are also a growing force in the
technology realm, thanks to the acquisition of software company Gemvision.
45. Elliot Tannenbaum, senior principal,
Leo Schachter Diamond Group
In 2011, Leo Schachter dethroned LLD
as Israel’s No. 1 diamond exporter. But it
may be best known in the United States
as the entity behind Sterling’s Leo.
Dennis Ulrich
Stephen Webster
Yancy Weinrich
49. Stephen Webster, jewelry designer
With skills honed in London’s Hatton
Garden and perfected over a 30-plusyear career, Webster runs a global
designer jewelry business with a muchcopied aesthetic—faceted rock crystal
over colored stone began with his Crystal Haze line—that’s as fun as it is fine.
50. Yancy Weinrich
Group vice president, JCK Events
After inheriting the mantle of group
vice president from new JA head David
J. Bonaparte, Weinrich now manages a
portfolio that includes the famed Las
Vegas show, LUXURY, Swiss Watch at
JCK, LUXURY Privé (New York City and
Panama), and this magazine. n