The Jewelry Chapter of American ORT presented Bradley J. Stinn, CEO of Friedman’s Inc. with the 2002 “ORT Community Achievement Award” during a special tribute dinner held Oct. 3 at the Grand Hyatt New York.

Stinn was recognized for his many outstanding career accomplishments and support of various civic and charitable causes championed by the jewelry industry.

Stinn has been CEO of Friedman’s since 1992. At that time the company had 50 stores with approximately $38 million in revenue. Under his leadership, Friedman’s (including its affiliate Crescent Jewelers) has grown to more than 800 stores with revenues of approximately $600 million. Friedman’s has been the fastest growing jewelry retailer in the United States during the past ten years, growing at a compound annual rate of approximately 30%. Friedman’s originated the power strip center growth strategy and is today the largest operator of jewelry stores outside the mall environment.

Stinn graduated from Harvard College in 1982 with an AB in Economics. He spent the early part of his career in investment banking with Lehman Brothers in corporate finance and with Morgan Schiff, a New York-based merchant banking firm.

The American ORT Jewelry Industry Chapter raises funds to support technical and technological training for more than 300,000 students in 60 countries. ORT is the Jewish world’s leader in technology education and the world’s largest non-governmental educational and training organization.

JCK