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Texas retailer Thomas Markle Jewelers took home the title at the diamond brand’s recently concluded Hearts On Fire University event in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas--Hearts On Fire University wrapped up in Las Vegas last week, with a Lone Star State jeweler named the 2015 Retailer of the Year.
Thomas Markle Jewelers, which operates two stores in Houston and one in The Woodlands, Texas, took home the title.
--Rookie of the Year: Grand Jewelers, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
--Midwest Retailer of the Year: James & Sons Fine Jewelers, Chicago and Orchard Park, Ill., Schereville, Ind.
--Northeast Retailer of the Year: Jewelry By Design, Woodbridge, Va.
--West Retailer of the Year: Saxon’s Fine Jewelers, Bend, Ore.
--South Retailer of the Year: Thomas Markle Jewelers
--International Retailer of the Year: Blue Diamond
--Hall of Fame Inductees: Majesty Jewelers on St. Maarten; Schiffman’s Jewelers in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, N.C.; and The Diamond Center of Wisconsin in Janesville and Madison
The keynote speaker at HOFU this year was actor and activist Michael J. Fox, who made a name for himself as conservative teenager Alex P. Keaton in the 1980s sitcom Family Ties and went on to star in a number of movies, most notably the Back to the Future trilogy.
Fox has been a strong advocate for Parkinson’s disease research since the late 1990s, when he made public his battle with the illness. He since has authored three books, founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support Parkinson’s research, been awarded a number of honorary degrees and is a world-renowned keynote speaker.
The Emmy-winning actor closed the event Wednesday with a keynote and then Q&A session with Hearts On Fire Chief Marketing Officer Caryl Capeci.
Many of the other speaker sessions during the three-day conference focused on the millennial generation and social media, both of which play a big role on Hearts On Fire’s new advertising campaign, Ignite Something.
They included social media expert and SocialNomics author Erik Qualman and Jason Dorsey, the chief strategy officer at the Austin-based Center for Generational Kinetics. Dorsey focuses on millennial research and was just featured in National Jeweler’s latest digital magazine.
Hearts On Fire University took place Oct. 12 to 14 at the Wynn Las Vegas.
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