Ian WamboldtManager, Rodriguez’s House of Stones, New Philadelphia, OH
After Ian Wamboldt completed two years with the U.S. Air Force National Guard as an avionics mechanic in 2008, he learned of an opening at House of Stones as a bench jeweler apprentice. It seemed like an odd occupational leap to him, but he gave it a shot. “I learned a lot, but I knew so many people in the community that I was constantly being interrupted and coming upstairs to greet them, and I eventually got into sales by default,” he explains. Promoted to manager, he took on an array of responsibilities that included diamond appraisals and grading, visual merchandising, marketing, and buying. He’s board chairman of the Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce, studied history at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has an MBA, too. He’s now studying to add graduate gemologist and colored-stone specialist to his impressive resume.