It was a banner day for blue gemstones, with another blue diamond topping $8 million and a 41-carat sapphire going for $2.3 million.
MJSA Elects Joseph Esposito as Board Chair
He succeeds Steven Cipolla, who will now serve as chair of the Education Foundation, while David Siminski has been elected vice chair.

New York—MJSA has elected Joseph Esposito as chair of its board of directors.
Esposito is the executive vice president of National Chain Group in Warwick, Rhode Island.
He brings decades of experience to his new position at MJSA.
After entering the industry as an apprentice toolmaker in 1979, he partnered in 1988 to form Prime Time Manufacturing, producing gold jewelry products.
He ran its manufacturing operations and served as president for 20 years, until Berkshire Hathaway-owned Richline Group purchased Prime Time in 2007.
Esposito subsequently ran Richline’s global manufacturing for 12 years before joining National Chain Group.
Alongside the news of his appointment are several other board announcements.
Former board chair Steven A. Cipolla, president of National Chain Group, is now chair of the MJSA Education Foundation, while David Siminski, vice president of sales and marketing at United Precious Metal Refining, has been elected a vice chair of the board.
Molly Bell, executive vice president of Rio Grande, has stepped down from the board. She served for eight years as a director, most recently as an officer at large on the board’s executive committee.
Ann Arnold, chief strategy officer for the Buyer’s Intelligence Group, is now an officer at large, and Arien Gessner, president of Rio Grande, was elected to a three-year term as director.
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