AGS honours award recipients at annual Conclave

This year at during its annual Conclave, the American Gem Society (AGS) awarded the first annual Young Titleholders Award. The award was presented to Denise Chislett, CG, of Underwood’s Jewelers at the Titleholder’s lunch on April 24th. The Conclave was held from April23-24. The Young Titleholders Award is presented to a young titleholder who has contributed greatly to the committee and the society as a whole.

Lisa Bridge, CG, and Anna Samsonova, CGA, Co-chairs of the Young Titleholder’s Steering Committee presented the award to Ms. Chislett. Lisa Bridge said, “Denise has set the bar quite high for future contenders. The group has been successful in large part because of her,.”

Other awards were also presented during the Conclave. On April 24, at the annual Shipley luncheon, Doug Hucker, CG, CEO of AGTA was honoured with the Sallie Morton award which honors individuals who have gone over and above in their service to the AGS Guilds each year. Sallie Morton, ECG, was very instrumental in developing and promoting the AGS National Guilds. “2014 was the year of Guilds & Color! Doug Hucker was tireless and generous with his time in helping to support many of our fledgling guilds, as well as visiting several established cities. We feel like his support has kept our momentum going into 2015 and into the future,” said Laura Stanley, CGA, Chair of the AGS Guilds.

Ms. Stanley also presented the Guild of the Year award to Arizona Guild. “All of our guilds keep raising the bar on interesting and relevant programs,” said Ms. Stanley. “This year, our amazing Phoenix guild has brought in star quality like Doug Hucker, Campbell Bridges, and Judy Evans. Their crowning achievement is a calendar featuring gems from Arizona! President Catherine Fitzgibbon really outdid herself!”

Louis Smith, President of the American Gem Society, presented the first ever John J. Kennedy award named after Mr. Kennedy as a tribute to his leadership in the Jewelry Security Alliance, and for his advocacy and service to the security of the jewelry industry. The award is given to a law enforcement professional who has gone above and beyond to help members of the jewelry industry protect their stores and their teams from theft and other criminal activity. This year’s recipient was FBI Special Agent Daniel McCaffrey. Speaking of Special Agent McCaffrey, Mr. Smith said “He has spoken at Guild meetings, spent time with jewelers and worked on his off-time to help protect jewelers. He is most deserving of this award.” Of the award being named after John J. Kennedy, Mr. Smith noted, “It’s fitting that we named the award after Mr. Kennedy. He is the utmost authority on security in our industry and highly regarded among his peers.”