video: Alex and Ani CEO Speaks at Bryant’s World Trade Day Kickoff Event

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

GoLocalProv Business Team

Bryant University’s World Trade Day kicked off Tuesday night with a presentation by Giovanni Feroce, CEO of Alex and Ani, the Cranston, Rhode Island-based jewelry company. Alex and Ani is one of the most influential jewelry companies in fashion – their unique lines of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings drive  tremendous growth in the past year.

The kickoff event launched the 26th annual World Trade Day held at George E. Bello Center on Bryant University. The full day program runs today at Bryant.

"Made in RI"

Feroce’s remarks focused on the role Alex and Ani is playing in bringing innovation and thus reinvigoration to Rhode Island’s jewelry industry. He also spoke about the company’s commitment to the highest manufacturing standards, “the statement ‘made in America’ is a promise of quality again – and a statement, like ‘made in Rhode Island,’ to be uttered with pride again.”

Alex and Ani will be the subject of the World Trade Day International Business Case Study, an interactive panel discussion on developing an export strategy that will kick off the World Trade Day agenda on today at Bryant University. Mr. Feroce will present an in-depth, analytical review of the company’s recent successful efforts in Japanese and Spanish markets.

That panel includes: Helen Lesieur, VP, Global Trade Services, RBS Citizens, N.A. - GTS Americas, Roger Hood, Partner, Duffy & Sweeney, Ken White, International Account Manager, UPS, and Christian Kalweit, Head of US Operations, Eurobridge, Inc. 

Positive Energy

But for those gathered at the reception, Mr. Feroce remained focused on what he termed “slightly more esoteric matters.”

Speaking of the presence of “positive energy” in Alex and Ani products, Mr. Feroce said, “It is challenging to reduce this phenomenon to the prosaic, the formulaic. Perhaps a behavioral psychologist could offer one sort of explanation, a shaman quite another.”

The brand’s core point of differentiation – positive energy has been infused into the jewelry’s design, the brand’s message and the company’s culture by its founder and owner, Carolyn Rafaelian.

Bryant University and the John H. Chafee Center for International Business will host World Trade Day against a theme, “Competing Beyond Borders,” and its array of speakers have attracted executives and managers from companies of all sizes throughout the United States and around the world.

See the video from Feroce's presentation.

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