On July 28, the industry gathered at New York’s Plaza hotel for the annual American Gem Society Circle of Distinction Dinner to celebrate three of its finest.

Yancy Weinrich, Georgie Gleim, and John A. Green were honored this year for their contributions to the jewelry industry, and all three accepted their awards with moving and gracious speeches that highlighted just how special this industry is. 

Weinrich, senior vice president of JCK Events, accepted the Triple Zero Award. She was introduced by AGS CEO Ruth Batson, who worked alongside Weinrich when they started their jewelry careers together at AGS 20 years ago.

Weinrich expressed her admiration and appreciation of all of her colleagues in the room.

“This industry has been good to me, it’s an extended family,” Weinrich said. She invoked the troubles the industry is experiencing and asked the professionals in the room to consider their role in the solutions. “Are we doing the things to get the younger generations excited about jewelry?” She thanked her teenage daughter, saying, “Greta has been trained well—she wears jewelry everyday. Let’s get more of her friends to do the same.”

Gleim, the president of Palo Alto, Calif., retailer Gleim the Jeweler was also awarded the Triple Zero Award. A former president of the AGS, she focused on the importance of the organization not only to her own career, but to her father’s as well, reminiscing about old times and celebrating how the organization has changed. “It is clearly not our fathers’ AGS,” she said with a smile. “It is not our fathers’ Conclave anymore.”

“AGS is a common thread,” she said of its role in the industry and her own career. “It is always trying to make business better and to do things the right way.”

Green, the president and CEO of New England jewelry retailers Lux Bond & Green, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, and in his remarks, he emphasized how much he truly loved the work he did and the people he did it with.

“I’m in the luckiest guy in the world,” said Green. “I get to work in an industry and job that I love. The best part of my job is the relationships I have with you in this room, with my employees, with my customers. Giving me this honor is a beautiful dream.” 

JCK