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Tiffany Names First Female Chief Gemologist
Victoria Wirth Reynolds will step into the role this April following Melvyn Kirtley’s retirement.
An 8-carat, internally flawless, D color diamond, offered as part of Tiffany’s 2019 holiday catalog. Victoria Wirth Reynolds will be the jeweler’s first female chief gemologist.
New York—Tiffany & Co. has appointed Victoria Wirth Reynolds its chief gemologist. She’s the first woman to hold the position in the jeweler’s history.
Reynolds, currently the vice president of global merchandising, will step into the role this April following the departure of Melvyn Kirtley, who will retire after 30 years with the company.
“I’m incredibly proud to be Tiffany’s first female gemologist. I’m just one representative of the many passionate and talented women at Tiffany,” Reynolds said in a press release announcing her appointment.
As of 2019, Tiffany said its global workforce is 70 percent female with women holding more than 60 percent of all management positions and 68 percent of all jobs at the company’s Jewelry Design and Innovation Workshop.
In her new role, Reynolds will serve as the brand’s spokesperson, sharing her diamond and gemological expertise as well as details about provenance and craftsmanship with clients and global media.
She will be responsible for product development of high jewelry and oversee the category’s global growth and development strategy.
Reynolds has worked for the company since 1987, holding several management positions with a focus on custom design, diamond grading, and high jewelry.
She started in the jeweler’s custom design department, moving on to the diamond office two years later, where she worked as a diamond grader for four years.
Reynolds served as manager of custom design from 1992 to 1995, before moving on to business sales as manager of the New York and New England regions.
She was promoted to director of the regions, then senior director in 2013, overseeing its business sales and sports marketing.
In 2016, Reynolds was named senior director of high jewelry, then was promoted to vice president in 2017.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Reynolds is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and the Gemological Institute of America with a luxury retailing certificate from The Wharton School.
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