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MJSA cuts Education Foundation director position
The association confirmed Wednesday that it has eliminated the director position at its nonprofit subsidiary, a position that Peggy Jo Donahue held for the last year.
Attleboro Falls, Mass.--The MJSA has let go longtime industry journalist and public affairs director Peggy Jo Donahue and eliminated the position she took last spring as director of the MJSA Education Foundation.
A nonprofit subsidiary of the association, the foundation sponsors the “At the Bench Live” demonstrations at AGTA Tucson, the seminar program at the MJSA Expo in New York and the ConFab conference, also in New York. The foundation also has a scholarship program that supports U.S. students enrolled in jewelry design and jewelry-making programs.
When the MJSA named Donahue to helm the nonprofit, Richline Group President and foundation chair Dave Meleski said her contacts and knowledge of the industry would help the foundation further its education outreach.
During her time as director, Donahue launched the “Be a Jeweler” initiative in partnership with the New Approach School for jewelers. The goal of the program is to get more young people interested in becoming bench jewelers as many baby boomers retire and leave the industry.
The MJSA said Wednesday that it won’t be hiring anyone to replace Donahue and instead will be splitting the director duties among already existing staff.
A former editor for JCK and Professional Jeweler who also spent three years as the director of public affairs for Jewelers of America, Donahue was appointed director of the MJSA Education Foundation in April 2014 after working as the association’s director of public affairs for nearly five years.
Reached Wednesday at her home outside Philadelphia, Donahue said she always has maintained her side business, Donahue & Associates, which offers writing and social networking services to clients in the jewelry industry. Now that she is no longer with MJSA, she will be working on content creation full time.
“I am a writer and that’s what I do best,” she said.
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