(L-R) Robert Kempler, Edward DeCristofaro and Jeffrey Cohen
(PRESS RELEASE) NEW YORK — The Twenty-Four Karat Club of the City of New York announces its newly-elected slate of officers, voted in at its annual general membership meeting on December 2.
Robert “Bobby” Kempler of Richline Group was elected chairman, taking over from Jeffrey H. Fischer, who completed his three-year term at the helm of the Club.
Other officers elected include Edward DeCristofaro, LDC Inc., president; Jeffrey Cohen, Citizen Watch Co., vice president; John Kennedy, Jewelers Security Alliance, secretary; Jeffrey Bergman, treasurer; and Charles Stanley, Forevermark, board member at-large.
Existing board members continuing their terms include: Jeff Fischer, Ann Arnold, Marcee Feinberg, Myriam Gumuchian, Steven Kaiser, Lawrence Pettinelli, Ronnie Vanderlinden, and immediate past president Stuart Wicht.
The Club thanked Fran Mastoloni, who completed his term of board service this year.
The Club also inducted six new members at the December 2 meeting. They are: Matthijs Braakman, CEO of SmartWork Media; Timothy Coggins, senior vice president of Bank of Rhode Island; Natalie Diamantis, president and CEO of Pomellato USA; Sally Morrison, director of public relations for natural diamonds for De Beers Group; Kristie Nicolosi, president and CEO of The Kingswood Company; and Roger H. Gesswein III, jewelry division manager of Gesswein USA and SIAM.
As previously announced, the Club’s famed annual Banquet, typically held the second Saturday of January, has been canceled this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
This is the sixth time in the Club’s 118-year history that the Banquet has not been held. It was canceled in 1918 during World War I (also during the misnamed “Spanish flu” pandemic), in 1932, 1933, and 1934 due to the Great Depression, and again in 1943, during World War II.