Awards & Recognition
★2024 GEM Award for Lifetime Achievement from Jewelers of America
★2020 Stanley Schechter Award from Jewelers Vigilance Committee
★2025 ICA Lifetime Achievement Award from International Colored Gemstone Association
★2025 Richard T. Liddicoat Award for Distinguished Achievement (GIA's highest honor)
★2013 Omaha Business Hall of Fame
★2010 Women's Jewelry Association Lifetime Achievement Award
★1997 National Jeweler's Hall of Fame
★Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain
Notable Facts
→CEO of GIA (Gemological Institute of America) from 2014-2025, retiring end of 2025
→Former CEO of Borsheims Fine Jewelry for 20 years (1994-2013), reporting directly to Warren Buffett
→Key player in establishing the Kimberley Process for conflict-free diamonds
→Native of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), came to US to study at GIA in 1980
→One of youngest inductees ever to Omaha Business Hall of Fame
→Led GIA through major expansion and digital transformation initiatives
→Serves on boards of Creighton University, Jewelers of America, and multiple industry organizations