Charlotte Preston, president/owner of Charlotte Preston Catalysts is celebrating 15 years of service to the jewelry industry. The company produces education programs for trade shows such as the AGTA GemFair in Tucson and RJO member events, collaborating with clients to achieve their own strategic purposes and consequent business success and to enhance the profitability of show attendees.

“Charlotte has been planning and producing our seminar programs for the GemFair Tucson since 1994,” said Douglas K. Hucker, AGTA chief executive officer. “We have over 10,000 attending buyers each year and nearly 40 percent of them attend the seminar programs, with over 27 percent of them planning their trips around the seminar programs. While these statistics speak for themselves, they don’t address the pure professionalism that Charlotte has brought to her endeavors year after year. As a seminar program planner, she is in a league of her own.”

Preston also operates a collaborative jewelers’ business group, and the company provides strategic consulting services to small businesses, maximizing the strengths of individual business owners.

“There are two ways that Charlotte Preston excels in what she does,” said Bill Sites, owner of Sites Jewelers. “First, all our conferences are well organized so that as a jeweler, all I have to do is show up ready to participate. Charlotte has taken care of all the details of the meeting. Second, Charlotte encourages group interaction during the meeting and always knows just the right time to ask those difficult questions.”

Preston explains, “In the sciences, a catalyst is used in small amounts to modify and increase the rate of a chemical reaction. My work is to unite people and resources for powerful results. And,” she laughs, “the catalyst is not consumed by the power produced.”

Charlotte Preston joined the jewelry industry in 1985 as the publications manager for the American Gem Society, eventually becoming that organization’s Assistant Executive Director. In 1993, she and her family moved to the White Bear Lake, Minn., area and she opened Charlotte Preston Catalysts, Inc. In 2004, Charlotte Preston received the Women’s Jewelry Association’s Award for Excellence in Special Services to the industry.

For more information, see http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottepreston or email getsitdone@aol.com.

JCK