Announcement from Kell Hymer

Fellow Faceters,
2024 has been a great year for the USFG! Congratulations to all who competed in our annual
competition and certified or placed. If you did not certify this time, we hope to see you hone your skills
and enter again next year! Our symposiums in Tucson and Franklin were huge successes. We were
lucky to hear from experienced cutters & experts and to have them share their knowledge and tips with
us. Faceting classes were taught to introduce new people to the art and improve the skills of existing
cutters. Generous vendors in the faceting community donated rough & supplies that were given away as
door prizes or raffled off during both events. I personally was able to hand out many of the prizes. It was
wonderful to see the excitement on the faces of the recipients! A big shout out to all the vendors who
donated rough and supplies to the symposiums! An even bigger shout out to all of you who attended. We
received overwhelmingly positive feedback! If you were not able to attend this year, bigger and better
things are coming next year and we hope to see you there!
As the year is now coming to a close, I have a rather big announcement to make. I have loved being
involved with the guild serving as a board member, VP, and most recently as the president. However, due
to personal reasons, I have made the difficult decision to step down and resign as president. There is a
time and season for all things. The season of life I now find myself in has come with changes that have
necessitated that I take a step back to take care of some of the most important things in life, especially
my 3 daughters.
Despite my resignation as president, I am still faceting and will be attending USFG symposiums when
and where possible. I am not going away nor am I leaving the guild without necessary leadership. As part
of my resignation, the USFG board has announced that Doug Augspurger has stepped in as the new
president of the guild. Since taking the role of Vice President, Doug has been working extremely hard to
make the guild a better organization. I can personally vouch for him and his skill set as a leader. Doug is
uniquely qualified and organized to lead this amazing organization. He has focused on recruiting talented
board members and volunteers to help move the USFG forward into the future and to make it even
better. I extend my congratulations, as well as my gratitude to him for stepping in at this critical juncture
in my life. I wish him, as well as the rest of the organization my best.
In addition, Cari Fifield will be replacing Doug as the new Vice President. Cari has been has been a part
of the Guild since July of 2020 and has been quite instrumental, working diligently to ensure success in
and around many of our events. Like Doug, Cari has a unique skill set which will be readily apply to
many of our goals for the near future. I extend my congratulations and my gratitude to her for also
steeping up at this time. I feel confident that I am leaving the organization in great hands.
And now I bid you farewell, as I take my necessary leave from the every day duties of the guild.
I look forward to the day that I can return, at a time when I can more actively contribute to the guild”. I
hope to see you in Tucson.

-Kell Hymer